In May last year the Faculty formed a partnership with The Law Corner under which students from the Faculty can apply for three month internships with The Law Corner between December and early March. After an extremely successful cohort of winter internships, the Faculty and The Law Corner have now agreed to double the number of places available in future cohorts from 5 to 10. This represents a decisive step towards the Faculty's commitment to widening access to justice.
The Law Corner is a public interest and pro bono legal advice organisation based near Kings Cross, London. It was founded by Cambridge alum and current Fellow and Director of Studies in Law, Nabil Khabirpour, in response to the reality that the administration of justice and the rule of law are severely compromised if individuals have no realistic ways of accessing the legal system. The Law Corner is guided by a twofold vision. One is to offer to those of limited means high quality and timely legal advice by taking on clients who would otherwise not be able to afford representation. The other is to provide opportunities for students and volunteers to learn more about the practice of law and, in the process, build a network among like-minded peers, collaborators and wider society.
As one of its main pillars, The Law Corner believes that Internships are a unique opportunity to learn, grow, and make a real impact in widening access to justice. They seek to foster an environment where collaboration, empowerment and creativity flourish. The Internship team at The Law Corner, led by Claudia Dolgetta and Rosa Matarewicz (Lucy Cavendish, 2023) were very impressed by the first group of interns, who hit the ground running and assisted on casework across a wide range of practice areas, including property disputes, consumer protection, immigration as well as equality and discrimination.
The Faculty of Law is particularly grateful to Dr Nick Friedman, who is leading this project on behalf of the Faculty, and Dr Stephanie Palmer for facilitating the connection with Law Corner. Dr Palmer taught Nabil whilst he was a student at Cambridge and now serves on the Advisory Board of The Law Corner. Dr Palmer also has a long-standing interest in pro bono work and has been an executive member of the Cambridge Pro Bono scheme since its foundation in 2000.