'Honoured and bemused': legal aid lawyers celebrated at annual LALYs

A Leicester-based firm with an all-female management and the first British Yemeni barrister in England and Wales were among the winners at the biggest event of the legal aid calendar.

Hundreds of lawyers gathered in central London last night for the Legal Aid Practitioner Group’s 20^th Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year awards, the first in-person ceremony since 2019 due to the pandemic.

The ceremony kicked off with Young Legal Aid Lawyers and solicitor Marcia Willis-Stewart, managing director of human rights firm Birnberg Peirce, receiving ‘winner of winners’ awards.

Willis-Stewart has represented victims of the Hillsborough disaster and is currently representing victims of the Grenfell fire. Picking up her award, she said: ‘At a time when we face so many difficulties, I would like to take a moment to think about all the people we have loved and lost.’

Garden Court North Chambers’ Ciara Bartlam, a former chair of Young Legal Aid Lawyers, picked up the award for legal aid newcomer. The client behind her nomination joined her on stage, saying: ‘The work [you did] – it means everything. The work that you do, it’s just phenomenal.’

David Neale, of Garden Court Chambers, and Lesley Kennedy Neal, practice secretary at Wilson Solicitors, were joint winners of legal aid support staffer, a new award.

Huge cheers from the crowd erupted when One Pump Court’s Amean Elgadhy, the first British Yemeni barrister in England and Wales, was named legal aid barrister.

‘A team of fabulous women,’ said Baroness Helena Kennedy as she presented the award for regional legal aid firm/not-for-profit agency to Johnson Astills. The firm, which specialises in crime and family law, has an all-female management.

Qaisar Sheikh, head of education at Coram Children’s Legal Centre, picked up the public law award. Asked about the challenges of lockdown, he said many children the organisation has helped have mental health difficulties. ‘Being isolated at home makes it worse. Just to help them get back on track has been a huge privilege for me.’

The outstanding achievement award went to Doughty Street Chambers’ Zia Nabi. He told the audience he was ‘honoured, humbled and bemused’ by the award. ‘Bemused because I’m just doing my job.’

To be a legal aid lawyer was a privilege, he said. ‘You get to spend your life doing something you really care about.’