- For immediate release -
LawWorks is pleased to announce the winners of the 2025 LawWorks and Attorney General’s Student Pro Bono Awards, kindly sponsored by LexisNexis UK.
Supported by the Attorney General, the Rt Hon. Lord Hermer KC, the awards celebrate the best pro bono activities undertaken by law students and law schools across the UK. The awards were presented at a ceremony held in the House of Lords on Wednesday 23rd April.
The Attorney General, the Rt Hon. Lord Hermer KC said:
“I am a proud champion of pro bono work which provides an opportunity to make a lasting impact on the wider community and engage with clients from diverse backgrounds.
Congratulations to all the nominees who have made a significant contribution, and I would encourage all of you to continue being ambassadors for pro bono work as you embark on your legal careers.
I would also like to thank LawWorks and the panel of judges for their continued efforts to shine a light on pro bono work which is fundamental in upholding the rule of law and promoting access to justice.”
Alasdair Douglas, Chair of LawWorks said:
“LawWorks received an impressive number of nominations for the Awards, underscoring the incredible work done by law schools, teachers and students across the UK. The nominations are, of course, just the tip of the enormous iceberg of pro bono legal advice given by students - there are some 300 plus law clinics up and down England and Wales which are supported by LawWorks and around half are run by universities and law schools. All those nominated or shortlisted deserve recognition and appreciation for their work, not just by our annual awards, but by society at large, as does everyone involved in pro bono.
We were delighted to be able to hold the Awards event in the Houses of Parliament with its ancient links to the creation of the rule of law, access to justice for all being one of its central tenets and we are grateful for the Attorney General’s support. I would like to extend my thanks to our judges, who had the daunting but fulfilling task of selecting the winners. Congratulations to all this year’s winners of the LawWorks and Attorney General’s Student Pro Bono Awards”
James Harper, Exec Sponsor for Rule of Law at LexisNexis UK said:
“LexisNexis is deeply honoured to support the Attorney General Student Pro Bono Awards from LawWorks, which shines a light on the extraordinary dedication of students and faculty members who tirelessly work to ensure justice is accessible to all. The rule of law is not just a principle but the very heartbeat of LexisNexis, driving our mission to create a fairer world through our innovative tools, products, and endeavours. Pro bono is a lifeline for those who might otherwise be left behind, ensuring that everyone can access their legal rights and remedies. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to all the nominees for their inspiring efforts and our warmest congratulations to the winners for their exceptional contributions.”
The winners are:
Best New Pro Bono Activity: Windrush Community Law Clinic, Liverpool John Moores University
The Windrush Community Law Clinic in collaboration with Liverpool Advocates for Windrush launched in July 2024, led by local lawyers Tonika Stephenson and Martyn Rodmell, with Rachel Stalker of Liverpool John Moores University supervising both volunteers and students.
The clinic provides two-fold support to people eligible for the Windrush Compensation Scheme (WCS), of which there are suspected to be around 1,200 in the Merseyside area. The first aspect involves casework support to apply to the WCS and/or signposting for other immigration law advice. The second aspect involves the creation of a user-friendly web-app allowing members of the public to check their eligibility for the WCS. Both aspects of the project are supported by 15 students from Liverpool John Moores University.
To date, the project has provided casework support to 32 individuals and has reached the pilot and feedback stage of the app design, as well as promoting the availability of the WCS through events and regular media appearances.
Emma Ritch Law Clinic at the University of Glasgow School of Law and the University of Hertfordshire Parole Clinic were highly commended by the judges.
Best Contribution by an Individual: Maddy Nicholl, University of Southampton
Maddy, a second-year Law student and current Co-Vice President of University of Southampton Law Clinic’s Student Committee has been instrumental in developing pro bono initiatives at the university. Maddy played a vital role in encouraging students to join the Clinic when it launched in early 2024 and in the 2024-25 academic year Maddy has helped to recruit 150 students. Most recently, Maddy has supported the Clinic Director in launching two ambitious projects offering a court form filling service and a McKenzie friend service to litigants in person. In addition to providing legal assistance to clients through her work in the Clinic and supervised support on LawWorks’ Free Legal Answers website, Maddy also supports several other pro bono initiatives in the community. These include supporting Lawyers Against Poverty by preparing documents designed to empower communities and delivering workshops to women’s rights charities; being a student member of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Pro Bono Committee, volunteering with the Environmental Law Foundation, and supporting local business with their CSR objectives.
Eli Goldsobel, City Law School, City, St George's University of London and Julius Balchin, BPP University were highly commended by the judges.
Best Contribution by a Law School: Glasgow Open Justice Centre, University of Glasgow School of Law
The mission of Glasgow Open Justice Centre (GO Justice) is to empower communities and individuals to use the law to access justice and achieve social and economic inclusion. Since 2023, GO Justice has significantly expanded their pro bono outreach and currently has 140 students engaged in 14 different projects. Their work includes a programme of Community Legal Education for homeless service users in partnership with the Marie Trust charity. In evaluation feedback, 100% of learners reported feeling more knowledgeable about the law because of the programme.
A recently launched Lawyering for Social Change Clinic involves students working under staff supervision to tackle racial injustice. The Emma Ritch Law Clinic, the first of its kind in the UK, provides independent legal advice and representation in sexual violence cases supporting more than 30 individual clients and advocacy workers in relation to often complex issues of criminal evidence and procedure. Students overwhelmingly report the value of their experiential learning through the pro bono activities.
Hallam Legal Advice Centre and Justice Hubs at Sheffield Hallam were highly commended by the judges.
Best contribution by a Team of Students: School Tasking Student Team, Warwick Law School
School Tasking is an outreach project, created at Warwick Law School, in which law students introduce school children, aged nine to ten from less advantaged backgrounds to the law through fun and interactive tasks. The project uses the format of the hit Channel 4 television show, Taskmaster, to teach pupils a little bit about law, to build positive connections with university more broadly, and to encourage them to be enthusiastic about their learning.
School Tasking aims to introduce elements of law that are particularly interesting, but that also encourage the advancement of core skills, such as creativity, lateral thinking, reasoning, problem-solving and teamwork.
A twenty-eight strong team of law student volunteers at Warwick Law School, ten of whom are now in their third year of being on the project team, ran the project this year. They lead fortnightly sessions across a two-month period at six participating primary schools.
Employment Law Clinic, University of Plymouth were highly commended by the judges.
The judges for the 2025 Awards were:
- I. Stephanie Boyce, former President of The Law Society of England and Wales (2021-2022)
- Marina Faggionato, Joint Chair of the Bar Council Pro Bono & Social Responsibility Committee
- Peter Farr, Head of Civil Law Policy, Ministry of Justice
- James Harper, Executive Sponsor, Rule of Law and CSR for LexisNexis UK & Ireland
- Deborah Smith, Executive Director and Senior Counsel, Goldman Sachs and LawWorks Trustee
- Victoria Speed, formerly Director of Trust for London’s Employment Legal Advice Network & Director of Pro Bono at BPP Law School
De Montford University Law School was announced as the winner of the Law School Challenge, a fundraising initiative to raise funds for LawWorks and Advocate. The Birmingham City University were runners up, and Swansea University placed third.
LawWorks would like to congratulate all the shortlisted nominees and everyone who submitted nominations. LawWorks would also like to thank the judges for their hard work in drawing up the shortlist from a very impressive list of nominations, and LexisNexis for their sponsorship of the Awards.
Further information on the Student Pro Bono Awards is available 
through the awards programme, or visit: lawworks.org.uk/student-awards.
-Ends-
Notes to editors:
- LawWorks (the Solicitors Pro Bono Group) is a charity working in England and Wales to connect volunteer lawyers and law students with people in need of legal advice, who are not eligible for legal aid and cannot afford to pay, and with the not for profit organisations that support them and their communities. LawWorks supports a network of independent pro bono advice clinics across England and Wales, and facilitates the provision of free legal advice for smaller charities and not-for-profit organisations. For further information about LawWorks visit: https:/lawworks.org.uk
- LawWorks is supported by the Law Society of England and Wales, the independent professional body for solicitors.
- LawWorks are extremely grateful for the sponsorship of the awards by LexisNexis Legal & Professional. LexisNexis' central mission is to progress the Rule of Law around the world - bringing as many people as possible within its protection. To achieve this, LexisNexis empower and enable legal, compliance and tax professionals with access to the very best in legal and business intelligence. LexisNexis holds one of the largest and most up-to-date collections of legal, tax and compliance content in the world. All of their products are fuelled by the latest technologies. From powerful search technology to cutting-edge AI, their tools are specifically built to help legal professionals to reach better answers faster and more efficiently. Lexis+ AI will let you add more value at speed with conversational search, drafting, summarisation, and document upload tools.
- For further information about the Awards contact Peter Jackson, Communications Officer, peter.jackson@lawworks.org.uk, 07961 522042