The Queen Mary Legal Advice Centre (QMLAC) Student Support team have been shortlisted for Best Contribution by a Team of Students at the 2024 LawWorks and Attorney General Student Pro Bono Awards.
The prestigious LawWorks and Attorney General Awards celebrate the best pro bono activities undertaken by law students and law schools throughout the UK. The winners of the 2024 Awards will be announced by the Attorney General at a ceremony at the House of Lords on Thursday 9 May.
The Support Team are an integral part of the QMLAC, engaged in vital work with clients under the support and supervision of Queen Mary staff. In their first year, the Support Team help to prepare and run the Centre’s twice weekly in-person evening clinics; welcoming clients and supervisors, running reception, and preparing case files. In their second and final year Support Team members triage enquiries; speaking to people with complex legal issues who are often in desperate need of help. Many Support Team members take on an additional role as Student Advisors in the QMLAC in their second or final year.
‘The Support Team are the beating heart of the Legal Advice Centre’ said Frances Ridout, Director of the QMLAC. ‘They develop and utilise skills which are vital for contemporary legal practice, and which complement and bring to life the law they learn in the classroom. The compassion and professionalism they display delivering a vital service to people in need is exemplary, and we are very pleased to see this being recognised through the shortlisting for the LawWorks Award'.
Queen Mary Legal Advice Centre has won numerous LawWorks and Attorney Generals Awards in previous years, including the Award for Best Contribution by a Law School in 2019. The Centre has won the Award for Best Contribution by a Team of Students twice before, most recently in 2016 for its SPITE project, which supports victims of image based sexual abuse.