Resources
(This page is often updated)
Newsletters and blogs
- Inner Temple newsletter
- The Times ‘The Brief’ newsletter
- UK Supreme Court Blog
- ICLR Blog (law reports)
- Witness Email (criminal law weekly updates, by Sam Willis)
- The Secret Barrister’s Blog
- Matthew Scott’s Blog (criminal law)
- View From The North Blog (criminal law, by Jamie Hamilton)
- Pink Tape (family law, by Lucy Reed)
- Rights Info (human rights)
- Free Movement Blog (immigration & asylum, by Colin Yeo)
- UK Human Rights Blog
- Civil Litigation Brief (by Gordon Exall)
- Employment Law Bulletin (by Daniel Barnett)
- Nearly Legal’s Blog (housing law, by Giles Peaker)
- UK Constitutional Law Association Blog
- EU Law Analysis Blog
- EJIL – International Law Journal / Blog
- Law and Lawyers (Obiter J’s general law blog)
- Sir Henry Brooke QC’s blog
Online case resources
List of Chambers/Chambers profiles
- Chambers Student – https://www.chambersstudent.co.uk/
- Chambers and Partners Bar Guide – https://www.chambersandpartners.com/guide/uk-bar/14
- Legal 500 Bar – https://www.legal500.com/assets/pages/uk-bar/uk-bar.html
List of pro-bono organisations
Below is a list of organisations that students may wish to approach for pro bono work
- Free Representation Unit – representing people at employment and social security hearings – http://www.thefru.org.uk/volunteers
- School Exclusions Project (hosted by City University and the Communities Empowerment Network) – representing children excluded from school – https://schoolexclusionproject.com/support-us/
- Citizens Advice (general volunteering) – https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/about-us/support-us/volunteering/about-volunteering-with-citizens-advice/volunteer_roles/
- Personal Support Unit (at the Royal Courts of Justice) – supporting litigants in person – https://www.thepsu.org/volunteer/court-volunteering/
- Bar Pro Bono Unit – if there are any case worker opportunities, they will be posted here https://www.barprobono.org.uk/work-for-us.html
- Law Works – https://www.lawworks.org.uk/solicitors-and-volunteers/get-involved
- Vocalise – teaching debating in prisons – https://www.graysinn.org.uk/education/student-members/vocalise
- Amicus – death row charity, self-funded opportunity – http://www.amicus-alj.org/
- Pegasus Scholarship (funding for opportunities like Amicus) – https://www.innertemple.org.uk/membership-services-support/financial-support-members/pegasus-trust/
- Every Child Protected Against Trafficking (ECPAT) – https://www.ecpat.org.uk/Volunteer
- Unseen (Anti Human Trafficking organisation) – https://www.unseenuk.org/support-us/volunteers
- Fair Trials – legal charity – http://www.fairtrials.org/get-involved
- The Howard League for Penal Reform – legal charity– https://howardleague.org/what-you-can-do/
- Reprieve – legal charity – https://reprieve.org.uk/about/opportunities-at-reprieve/
- Search for your local legal advice centre on Google – they may be looking for volunteers.
- Legal Advice Clinics at your BPTC provider.
- https://www.lawcareers.net/MoreLaw/ProBonoInitiatives
Practitioner Groups
You can also join practitioner groups. Some require you to be working in a certain area, but others will let you join as a student or interested person. Find out more:
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Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers (£20 for students)
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Human Rights Lawyers Association (free for students)
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Bar Human Rights Committee (£25 for students and barristers 0 – 5 years call)
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Criminal Bar Association (BPTC students only)
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Discrimination Law Association (£15 for students)
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Employment Lawyers Association (£45 for trainee lawyers, £20 for employment lawyers in voluntary sector)
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Family Law Bar Association (£15 for students)
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Housing Law Practitioners Association (free for students)
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Immigration Law Practitioners Association (£90 for students)
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Inquest (not open to students, £75 for pupil barristers)
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Resolution (family law) (free or £35 depending on stage)
(Thanks to the Young Legal Aid Lawyers group for letting us pinch this list!)
Podcasts & Television
- The Pupillage Podcast, hosted by Beatrice Collier and Georgina Wolfe via Middle Temple (see @pupillagepodcast) Link to soundcloud here. Also available on iTunes.
- TargetJobs Pupillage Fair videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/targetjobsuk/playlists
- Law in Action, hosted by Joshua Rozenberg QC (hon) (BBC Radio4 https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006tgy1/episodes/downloads)
- UK Law Weekly (http://uklawweekly.com/podcast/)
- Law Pod by 1 Crown Office Row (http://uklawweekly.com/podcast/)
- Mayer Brown UK Employment Law Podcast (https://www.mayerbrown.com/uk-employment-law)
- TV – The Prosecutors (https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bdq0m9)
- TV – The Barristers (4 Part Documentary which is split into 6 videos on YouTube – the first can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6d78ROXCPgI)
Books
Advocacy & Pupillage
- The Art of the Advocate, Richard Du Cann
- The Devil’s Advocate, Iain Morley QC
- Bewigged and Bewildered?: A Guide to Becoming a Barrister in England and Wales, Adam Kramer and Ian Higgins
- The Path to Pupillage: A Guide for the Aspiring Barrister, Georgina Wolfe and Alexander Robson
Non-Fiction
- The Rule of Law, Tom Bingham
- Under the Wig: A Lawyer’s Stories of Murder, Guilt and Innocence, William Clegg QC
- Jeremy Hutchinson’s Case Histories, Thomas Grant
- In Your Defence: Stories of Life and Law, Sarah Langford
- Guilty Until Proven Innocent, Jon Robins
- The Justice Game, Geoffrey Robinson
- A Short Book of Bad Judges, Graeme Williams
- Weird Cases: Comic and Bizarre Cases from Courtrooms around the World, Gary Slapper
- Stories of the Law and How It’s Broken, The Secret Barrister
Fiction
- A Short Gentleman, Jon Canter
- Law and Disorder, Tim Kevan
- Law and Peace, Tim Kevan
- The Rumpole of the Bailey series, John Mortimer