At Nottingham, we have collaborated with Pro Bono Society and Oxfam Society to launch Junior Lawyers Against Poverty at Nottingham University.
Our initial focus was the text book drive. This continues to be our main project and, by the end of this semester, we hope to send over 150 books to the International Law Book Facility, an organisation that sends second hand legal textbooks to not-for-profit organisations in need of legal research resources across the globe. The books collected have generously been donated by staff members of the Nottingham Law School and the Human Rights Centre, as well as Freshfields Vienna, who has kindly agreed to donate books and send them to Nottingham to support our book drive. At the end of March, JLAP Nottingham is facilitating a book packing event where members have the opportunity to volunteer and help make a substantial difference to the project, whilst socialising over pizza and snacks. We hope that this will continue to build the foundation for the project and help sustain its longevity at Nottingham.
To raise the JLAP’s profile on campus, we have done several fundraising activities, including JLAP bake sales as well as selling refreshments at a concert and at a Silver Screen Movie Night. We have managed to collect over £190 so far and hope to keep raising more throughout this term.
We are currently in contact with the law school at the University of Khartoum in Sudan and are in the process of setting up a twinning scheme, which will be a great way to get students involved with the project. We hope this will enable students from both universities to communicate and build relationships that will further their understanding about what studying law in either country entails, as well as the difficulties that it involves. To keep up with modern technology and to help facilitate communication, the twinning scheme will utilise modern social media, such as Facebook and WhatsApp.
We have just launched an essay competition to promote JLAP and get students excited and involved in the project. The topics are accessible for all students, no matter what their degree background, and promote general discussion of the fundamental issues of poverty, access to justice and women’s rights. The winning author will be published in Nottingham’s own Advocate Magazine and receive a £50 Amazon voucher.
Charlotte, Katharina, Ellen and Ellie
JLAP Nottingham