While coronavirus threatened to put a dampener on this year’s London Legal Walk – which usually sees thousands of solicitors and barristers pace the streets for access to justice – one law student decided to take the plunge and embrace a watery challenge instead.

Halo Garrity, a master’s student at BPP University, is to swim 50 lengths of her local pool in a plastic mermaid’s fin this afternoon to raise money for the London Legal Support Trust and Citizens Advice Havering.

Garrity is not new to the world of aquatic pursuits. Before embarking on a career in law, she was a head of operations at a circus and a self-described ‘qualified mermaid’ – with the diving certificate to prove it. ‘You have to be able to use the fin properly and safely; swim down to a decent depth and stay there for three minutes or so without needing to breathe while smiling and waving at a crowd with your eyes open,’ she said.

In training, she managed swim a length of the pool in just 11 seconds wearing her tail, but she expects this afternoon’s challenge to be ‘definite hard work’.

Law, in comparison, sounds like a walk in the park.

 

How are you completing this year's London Legal Walk? Let us know by emailing amy.coleman@lawsociety.org.uk.

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