The City Law School’s ‘School Exclusion Project’ is also highly commended in the ‘Best Contribution by a Team of Students’ category at the Lawworks Student Pro Bono Awards 2023.
By City Press Office (City Press Office), Published
The City Law School’s City Community Legal Advice Centre (CityCLAC), has won the award for Best New Pro Bono Activity at the Lawworks Student Pro Bono Awards 2023.
The School Exclusion Project was also highly commended in the ‘Best Contribution by a Team of Students’ category.
The awards celebrate the best Pro Bono activities undertaken by law students and law schools from across the UK; the winners of the Advocate and LawWorks Law School Challenge 2022-2023 were also recognised.
The Award winners were announced at an awards ceremony at the House of Commons on Thursday 27th April with the Attorney General, the Rt Hon. Victoria Prentis KC MP.
The City Law School was shortlisted for four awards at the Student Pro Bono Awards.
They were: City Community Legal Advice Centre, City University of London (in the Best New Pro Bono Activity category); Company Insolvency Pro Bono Scheme Student Team and School Exclusion Project (in the Best Contribution by a Team of Students category) and The City Law School, City University of London (in the Best Contribution by a Law School - undergraduate and postgraduate).
Commending CityCLAC on its achievement, Professor Richard Ashcroft, Executive Dean of The City Law School, said:
“I am delighted for our Pro Bono and community legal advice team that their hard work and innovation has been recognised by the Attorney General and Lawworks at their annual awards. We are very proud of our long history of Pro Bono and Clinical Legal Education work at The City Law School. The launch of CityCLAC last year opened a new chapter. We are taking this work to the next level, aspiring to offer Pro Bono experience to all students on our programmes from undergraduate law to professional qualifications: watch this space!”
Sally Gill, Director of CityCLAC said:
“I’m so proud of The City Law School on our achievements at the National Attorney General and LawWorks student Pro Bono Awards 2023. Being shortlisted in the first place for four awards was a tremendous accolade given the stiff competition and amazing projects we were up against. To win Best New Pro Bono Activity for the City Community Legal Advice Centre (CityCLAC) has filled me with joy and hope! Our School Exclusion Project was recognised as “highly commended” for the team’s work in retaining and leading this valuable Pro Bono intervention. I am in awe of the students' efforts in volunteering their time to work on these projects while still studying hard on their courses.”
“We could not have succeeded without the continued support of our law firms, chambers, and volunteer lawyers. With the cuts to legal aid still having wide-ranging negative effects on access to justice, pro bono (whilst it should never be seen as filling the gap) remains an important part of the solution. We hope our students continue to be inspired by their volunteering and that it provides them with renewed passion to succeed in their studies.”