Attorney General's Award 2009
The awards ceremony took place at the House of Lords on 31 March 2009.
Tony Wragg (left) and Karen Clubb (right) attended the ceremony with three of our final year LL.B students.
In February 2009 we were 'Highly Commended' in the Attorney General's Award, for pro bono work (free legal services).
Free advice provided by our Law School put us on the shortlist of a national awards scheme, endorsed by the Government's chief legal adviser.
The annual Attorney General's Pro Bono Awards recognises the contribution of law schools and students to the community through the 'pro bono' or free work that they do.
Best Contribution By A Law School
The University of Derby was shortlisted in the 2009 awards, in the category of Best Contribution By A Law School. We were 'Highly Commended' in this category.
Our final year students on the Clinic programme regularly work with the now merged Derby Law Centre and Derby Citizens Advice Bureau to provide advice on immigration and asylum, employment, welfare benefits, debt, housing, homelessness and family matters. Three full time academic staff have timetabled 300 hours of their time, over a 12 month period, to support them.
The Law School at Derby has also provided free legal advice and assistance to Victim Support, Derbyshire, and to the Race Equality Centre in Leicester (until its closure in March 2008).
Real life experience
Tony Wragg, University of Derby Principal Tutor in Law, nominated the Law School for the award.
He said: "I am delighted that we have been placed on the shortlist for Best Contribution By A Law School in these awards.
"We feel our students should get as much real life experience as possible during their legal training and that, where possible, this should benefit the community. We are up against some pretty stiff competition in our category but I'm hopeful we can win."
Also shortlisted in the same category as Derby Law School are the College of Law, the University of Strathclyde and Queen Mary, University of London.
