Campaigns News

On the evening of Wednesday 15th May, Kent Union held their annual awards ceremony in the Gulbenkian Theatre, Canterbury to celebrate the amazing achievements of our students.

The Kent Law Campaign Student Committee was shortlisted for three awards and were announced the winners of the “Best New Society/Student Led Volunteering Group of the Year” for their tireless work raising money and awareness for the Kent Law Campaign.

The Committee has worked extremely hard this year and we are so proud of everything they have achieved.

More photographs from the evening are available online: www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.251330508319608.56812.251330424986283&type=3#!/media/

On Wednesday 7th November 2012, the Rt Hon Lady Hale of Richmond gave a lecture entitled ‘The Supreme Court and the UK Constitution’ to an overflowing lecture theatre full of students, staff, alumni and friends of the University of Kent. Her lecture was most interesting and prompted a number of questions from the audience. The transcript of the lecture is now available online.

Lady Hale is Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, which was set up in October 2009 to take over the jurisdiction of the Law Lords in the House of Lords. She was the first woman Law Lord and is the first and currently the only woman Justice of the UK Supreme Court. Unlike most UK judges, she has had a varied career, as an academic lawyer, a member of the Law Commission (a statutory body set up to promote law reformation), and judge of the High Court, Court of Appeal and now the Supreme Court. She is President of both the United Kingdom Association of Women Judges and the International Association.

For photographs taken at the lecture and drinks reception, please visit the recent events tab on our website.

On the 17^th October 2012 Kent Law Temple Society held their first annual Lecturers’ Moot. The event was designed to give students a first-hand experience of what mooting entails and to showcase some exemplary examples of mooting from Kent Law School staff.

The moot saw four of Kent Law School’s lecturers (Per Laleng, Dr Vicky Conway, Darren Weir and Catherine Carpenter) advocating in front of Criminal Law Lecturer Lisa Dickson and Kent Law Temple Society members, students Matthew Gaunt and Matt Lawson.

The problem question concerned a contentious area of criminal law and involved a doctor’s withdrawal of life support from a severely premature baby in the hopes of benefiting a more viable premature baby. At the court of first instance the Doctor had been convicted of murder but appealed on the grounds that the trial judge did not direct the jury to consider the defences of necessity and causation.

After well-reasoned and creative arguments from both sides, the judges left the courtroom to consider their verdict. It was found that the appellants (Laleng and Conway) had sufficiently demonstrated that the judge’s direction was incorrect thereby making the conviction unsafe. Matthew Gaunt delivered the verdict and ordered a retrial.

Following the verdict, there was left the question of ‘Best Mooter’. Due to the impressive advocacy of all competitors, this question warranted more deliberation than the law itself. Matt Lawson delivered the decision and noted that Per Laleng’s authoritative rebuttal had won the approval of the bench and he was therefore awarded the (soon to be prestigious) engraved silver gavel.

The event was a great success drawing in a huge turnout of engaged students and also giving Kent Law Campaign an opportunity to raise funds for the new Law Clinic and Mooting Chambers.

Calling all cyclists and challenge seekers!

Recent Kent Law School graduate, Emanuela Cudjoe, has decided to organise a sponsored cycle from London to Paris in aid of the Kent Law Campaign.  The proposed event will take place next summer or early autumn and will be decided according to participants’ availability.

Basic details

• Distance: 180 miles
• Duration: 3 days cycling
• Price: £489 per person – £150 deposit to be paid on registration to secure the chosen date with the remainder to be paid closer to the time.

Included in the price

• All accommodation
• Buffet breakfast everyday
• Experienced cycle leaders
• Vehicle support
• Ferry crossing to Dieppe
• Eurostar/flight to London
• Transfer of bikes back to London

Itinerary

Day 1 – London (Greenwich) – Newhaven, approx. 60 miles.

• Spend a night in Newhaven and take a morning ferry to Dieppe.

Day 2 – Dieppe – Gournay-en-Bray, approx. 46 miles

• Spend a night in Gournay.

Day 3 Gournay-en-Bray – Paris, approx. 77 miles

• Stay in Paris overnight.

Day 4 – Spend a day in Paris

• Evening train/flight to London

If you would like to take part in the challenge or you know someone who would be interested in doing so, please email Emanuela directly (enc2@kent.ac.uk) who will be able to send you further information.

This promises to be a very exciting and rewarding challenge, so please do register to take part and help raise funds for this important cause.  Don’t forget, the University will match each donation you raise pound for pound.

We are delighted to announce that Courtenay Griffiths QC, Barrister at Garden Court Chambers, has agreed to become a Patron of the Kent Law Campaign.

One of the country’s leading barristers, Courtenay has figured in many very prominent law cases connected to fraud and terrorism, murder and public order – including the Brighton bombing, the Harrods bombing, the Canary Wharf bombing and the Damilola Taylor murder trial.

He has campaigned for an effective legal-aid system, for an awareness of rights in the wider community and for a legal profession that is more reflective of society as a whole.

We welcome him to our Circle of Patrons.

Not content with simply taking part in a sponsored skydive in aid of the Kent Law Campaign, Natalie Salunke, Chair of the Young Alumni Group and Kent alumna (E02), is trying to increase the incredible £2,000 she raised by signing up for the 50 km Thames Path Challenge on Saturday 29 September 2012.

The trek, which starts at 6.30am at Fulham Palace, follows the Thames Path to Windsor and Natalie hopes to complete this gruelling challenge in under 12 hours.

Natalie has set herself a fundraising target of £500 and all funds raised will go towards the Kent Law Campaign and will be matched pound for pound by the University.  You can sponsor her by visiting her JustGiving page.

The University of Kent wishes her luck in this demanding challenge and encourages everybody to support her.

Anna Pollard (K98 and Campaigns Manager at the University of Kent) ran the London Marathon on Sunday 22nd April and her fundraising page has now come to a close.  In total, Anna raised over £3,500 for the Kent Law Campaign – we are so proud of her for completing such a gruelling challenge and on behalf of the University we would like to thank her for her efforts.  Of the experience Anna said:

“The Kent Law Campaign is a fantastic project and one which I am fully behind.  Set up in 1972, the Kent Law Clinic was the first of its kind in a UK Law School and since then it has helped hundreds of people who need but cannot afford access to legal services. When I received my ballot place for the 2012 Virgin London Marathon I knew I wanted to run to raise money for the Law Campaign.  I am not a runner and was met with sniggers when I told family and friends that I had secured a place – I proved them wrong and completed the race in 05:21:17 and raised over £3,500 for the Campaign!  It was an amazing experience and I would urge everybody to take up a personal challenge to raise valuable funds for this worthy cause.”

If, like Anna, you would like to take part in a sponsored event for the Kent Law Campaign please contact alumni@kent.ac.uk to discuss.

Anna Pollard, the University’s Campaigns Manager, will be running the 2012 London Marathon in aid of The Kent Law Campaign.

Kent Law Campaign is a £5million fundraising project to build a new home for the Kent Law Clinic which provides free legal advice and representation to those who need but cannot afford access to legal services and the University’s Mooting Programme.

She claims not to be a natural runner and, as the photograph illustrates, is probably more likely to be found with a glass of champagne in her hand rather than a bottle of Lucozade so this will most definitely be a huge personal challenge!

All donations made through the Just Giving website will be given to the Kent Law Campaign. The University will match each donation you make pound for pound including gift aid which will really help the Campaign.

For more information on the campaign, go to http://www.kent.ac.uk/giving/lawcampaign/index.html

The Kent Law Clinic at the University of Kent has been declared joint winner of the Best New Student Pro Bono Activity award (for its Public Access to Land Project) at the LawWorks & Attorney General Student Awards 2012.

At a reception at the House of Commons on 27 March the Attorney General, the Rt Hon Dominic Grieve QC MP, presented the award to Clinic solicitor Elaine Sherratt accompanied by Kent Law School (KLS) students Rebecca Newman, Samantha Woodley and Vivian Chan, together with barrister David Graham of Francis Taylor Building chambers in the Temple.

The Public Access to Land Project has helped hundreds of local people win disputed public rights of way along footpaths through the Kent countryside, and helped hundreds more in their ongoing attempts to register treasured local recreation spaces as ‘village greens’ in Whitstable and Wickhambreaux.

In 2010, KLS senior lecturers Donald McGillivray and Nick Jackson developed a new module, Access to Land, which has allowed law students under the supervision of Elaine Sherratt to work on many access to land cases for local residents, several of which have led to lengthy public inquiries. The Clinic has only been able to provide this service with the invaluable pro bono assistance of barristers from Francis Taylor Building, including Richard Honey, Isobel Tafur, David Graham and Ned Westaway. Other KLS students in the team include Jessica Crawford, Adam Demmon, Natasha Roberts, Chris Scutt and Dan Weston.

The Awards judges said: ‘The link between pro bono casework in the Clinic and the taught module on the law relating to access to land allows students to see the law in practice and to put their learning into practice by helping Clinic clients. The project establishes a new collaboration between the students at the Kent Law Clinic and barristers from Francis Taylor Building. This is innovative and important work which deserves to be recognised.’

Elaine Sherratt commented: ‘It was a great thrill to receive the award. The project represents a very fruitful partnership with KLS colleagues and with barristers from Francis Taylor Building acting pro bono, and it provides a badly needed service. The legal and logistical challenges facing local residents seeking to protect their enjoyment of the outdoors are truly formidable, and Clinic students are making a very helpful contribution here.’

Vocalise, a project of the Education Department of Gray’s Inn, was the co-winner for their work with prisoners. The other short-listed projects in this category were: Immigration Tribunal, BPP Law School London; the County Court Advice Desk, BPP Law School London; and the York Law School Clinic, University of York

Congratulations to Katherine MacDonald who won the best advocate prize in the final of the CPS Sponsored moot competition in March at Lewes Crown Court.  Katherine and her mooting partner, Penny McGhee, were excellent against a strong team from Sussex University.

The final was judged by Roger Coe-Salazar, Chief Prosecutor of CPS South East, and three CPS prosecutors, Alex Wilson, Martin Yale and Tim Thompson.

Katherine will now receive a three week work placement at the CPS over the summer as part of her prize.

This is the third year in a row that Kent has won the final.