Not even a pandemic could stop the organisers of the annual Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year Awards honouring the work of the legal aid community to help society’s most vulnerable.

The Legal Aid Practitioners Group usually holds a ceremony at a prestigious central London venue. Of course that was off this year, but, undeterred, the group arranged for the glittering ceremony to be live-streamed on YouTube.

Obiter was one of the hundreds of viewers to tune in last Wednesday evening and was thoroughly impressed. Sky News presenter Anna Jones returned for hosting duties and the winners were announced by domestic abuse campaigner David Challen. Several nominees, suitably attired for the occasion, could be seen on a screen behind them.

Bar a couple of technical glitches where a couple of the winners couldn’t be heard, the 90-minute ceremony ran smoothly. And none of the incredible spirit of the event was lost.

It will be no surprise if the 2020 LALYs ceremony becomes a template for other legal awards bashes. For now at least.

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