Fledgling Human Rights Lawyers unite to recognise excellence

25 April 2008

The winners of this year’s Graham Turnbull essay competition have been presented their awards by at a prize-giving event at the Law Society.

The competition, which is run by the International Human Rights Committee of the Law Society and the Junior Lawyers Division, is named after Graham Turnbull, a British solicitor who was killed eight years ago while working as a United Nations human rights monitor in Rwanda.

Law students, trainee solicitors, pupil barristers and newly qualified solicitors and barristers from England and Wales were invited to enter the competition. This year’s essay title was:

“is human rights law relevant in combating poverty and social injustice?” .

The title was chosen to reflect the trend, amongst human rights organisations, of expanding their remit to include economic, social, and cultural rights.

The winner, Lancashire born Ian Clarke, receives £500 from the Graham Turnbull Memorial Fund.  Oxford Graduate Ian was called to the Bar in 2005 and is currently working as in-house counsel at Berrymans Lace Mawer Solicitors.

The runner up, Deirdre Malone, receives £250 from the publisher Lexis Nexis. Deirdre was born in Dublin and studied law at Trinity College. She was called to the Bar in 2006 and is currently working at Liberty as an Advice and Information Officer in the Legal Department.

Andrew Holroyd, Law Society President, says the standard of the entries for this competition remains very high.  He commended the excellent work and enthusiasm of our junior lawyers and law students who took part in this competition and said, “lawyers have a proud tradition of fighting for human rights across the world, improving access to justice and alleviating the suffering of people less fortunate than them.  This competition is a very a fitting legacy to Graham Turnbull’s commitment to human rights work.”

The judges, Joss Saunders, Legal Adviser and Company Secretary, Oxfam, and Keir Starmer QC, Doughty Street Chambers, selected the winner and runner-up, who were announced at the Prize Giving, held last night at the Law Society.

Guest speakers at the event included Professor Geraldine Van Bueren from Queen Mary University. She works extensively with governments and intergovernmental organisations and is working on a project for UNESCO on how the law can be used constructively to help combat poverty.

The second speaker was Emilie Hunter, from the Free Tibet campaign. Emily is a solicitor working on litigation in the Spanish courts relating to Tibetan issues.