Network of law students working to eradicate poverty through projects on human rights and access to justice
Junior Lawyers Against Poverty is a network of students and junior lawyers using their legal skills to help fight one of the world’s toughest challenges – eradication of poverty – through global improvement of access to justice and legal education.
We fight poverty through our work on legal support projects, public interest litigation, twinning law students and law departments at universities, training law students and junior lawyers and fundraising for our Justice Fund (amongst other projects!).
We put law at the forefront of what we do. For us, the law is what we know best. But we also believe that access to justice is a fundamental stepping stone on the path to poverty eradication, improving protection of human rights (economic, social and cultural) and securing sustainable development
We are a wide network of law students and junior lawyers, from Manchester, Eritrea, London, The Gambia, Exeter, Kampala and many more…
Our Story
JLAP is the Junior Lawyers division of Lawyers Against Poverty (LAP), a growing movement of legal activists from across the legal community, working together to take action on poverty eradication and access to justice
JLAP was founded in 2015 to include university students, legal apprentices and trainee lawyers in Lawyers Against Poverty projects. JLAP Groups now operate at universities across the UK and in Africa, with hundreds of students participating in JLAP projects since its inception.
Our Mission
We raise awareness amongst students and junior lawyers of the role of law and access to justice in eradicating poverty. We help our participants to develop their own knowledge and professional skills, to equip them with the capabilities needed to make a meaningful and substantial change during their careers.
We offer our JLAP students opportunities to get directly involved in projects that relate to eradication of poverty and addressing legal and social inequalities. For more information on our projects, see ‘What We Do’.
The Money we fundraise goes into the Justice Fund which supports projects around the world that promote access to justice and the rule of law for some of the world’s most vulnerable people. If you would like to support the LAP Justice Fund, you can click here to make a regular donation.
In the words of our co-Founder, Oxfam’s general counsel, Joss Saunders:
“If we are ever going to see a just world without poverty – a world in which all people can influence decisions that affect their lives, enjoy their rights, and assume their responsibilities as full citizens of the world – we need a fund that brings together the resources of those dedicated to helping fight injustice”