Hot on the heels of success in The Lawyer Awards 2014, Kent Law Clinic has been shortlisted in the Halsbury Legal Awards 2014.
The Clinic is shortlisted for a ‘Law in the Community Award’ alongside Debevoise & Plimpton (a prominent international corporate law firm based in New York City);
The AIRE Centre (a specialist charity promoting awareness of European law rights); the London Legal Support Trust (an independent charity that raises funds for free legal advice services); the London School of Mediation (one of the world’s leading organisations for mediation training); and Osbornes (a top London law firm).
The news of making the shortlist comes less than a week after the Clinic won ‘Ethical Initiative of the Year’ at The Lawyer Awards 2014 (pictured above). The Clinic was previously shortlisted for the Halsbury Legal Awards in 2013 for ‘Pro Bono Team of the Year’.
Director of Kent Law Clinic Professor John Fitzpatrick said: ‘The nomination to the Halsbury Legal Awards was made for the high quality of service that Clinic staff and students provide, and especially for three outstanding, sustained pieces over the past year: securing asylum for an Afghan atheist (together with excellent legal support to the refugee community); securing a village green for local residents (represented by three students at a Public Inquiry); and winning more than £100,000 together with saving an additional £100,000 for welfare benefits claimants.’
As an illustration of the service the Clinic provided to the community in 2013, Professor Fitzpatrick added: ‘The Clinic advised 1,730 telephone callers, and provided full representation in 161 cases – mostly in the fields of employment, housing, contract, immigration and asylum, welfare benefits, public rights of way and village greens. A further 313 people had a half-hour consultation on a pro bono basis with a solicitor or barrister from private practice serving on a rota at one of the Clinic’s evening advice sessions in community centres at outreach locations. ‘
The Halsbury Legal Awards were launched in 2013 to celebrate the values the legal community embodies and which are prized by the profession and wider community. Winners will be announced at a special event in London on 24th September.
Kent Law Clinic is a partnership between students, academics and solicitors and barristers in practice locally. It has two objects: to provide a public service for local people who need legal advice and representation but cannot afford to pay for it, and to enhance the education of students in the Kent Law School through direct experience of legal practice.
The Clinic has received numerous awards recognising and celebrating its work since its establishment in the early-1970s, including ‘Outstanding Contribution to the Local Community’ in the Times Higher Education Awards 2007; the prestigiousLawWorks Attorney General Award in 2012 for the Best New Student Pro Bono Activity (for its Public Access to Land Project); and the LawWorks Attorney General Award for the ‘Best Contribution by a Law School’ in 2011. The Clinic was also awarded the Queen’s Anniversary Prize in 2007, with staff and students from the Clinic collecting the award from the Queen at Buckingham Palace.
More recently, the Clinic was was awarded ‘Runner Up’ status in the ‘Best Contribution by a Law School’ category of theLawWorks Attorney General Student Pro Bono Awards in April 2014.