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Lawyers without Borders Student Division at UCL

Applications for Committee positions are now open.

30 September 2023

About the project

Lawyers without Borders (LWOB) is an organisation that manages volunteering lawyers from around the world who offer pro bono services to international rule of law and human rights projects, capacity building and access to justice initiatives.

Their work helps to ensure just outcomes in controversial cases, provides much needed legal research and training in developing countries, and assists in holding governments and legal systems to account. Much of their work goes unpublicised due to its sensitive political nature in the countries in which they work. They have a network of Student Divisions all around the UK who help support their work through fundraising, research, and volunteering.

The Student Division at UCL is part of an established international network of volunteer lawyers and law students from all over the world who work on human rights and rule of law projects and access to justice initiatives as well as carrying out research and fundraising to support LWOB.

More information about Lawyers Without Borders as an organisation can be found on their website, and on their blog which students are encouraged to sign up and write for: Lawyers Without Borders Blog.

LWOB Student Division at UCL Structure and Roles: 

The LWOB Student Division at UCL works on a wide range of Human Rights-related projects, including fundraising, organising debates and other events, running a mooting competition and carrying out research in order to support LWOB. In addition, the Division aims to raise awareness of poorly understood justice mechanisms by organising workshops, lectures and seminars on the rule of law.

The Division’s Structure

The LWOB Core Division consists of the LWOB Committee and members of the LWOB Subcommittees. There are 5 subgroups, each with its own remit, with the Committee providing overall oversight. The groups will of course interact and consult with each other, but have a large degree of independence to decide their own direction of travel.

LWOB Committee 

President

The President is responsible for overseeing the five different subcommittees at UCL LWOB. This involves coordinating and setting timelines for each team, liaising with the CAJ on events and fundraisers, and providing overall support to each of the teams.

Co-Heads of Publications (Digital Media and Print)

The Publications team produces two main publications: a weekly blog, and a termly journal. By overseeing this team, you will be responsible for helping write, edit, and publish articles to raise awareness of key human rights issues

Head of Fundraising

The Head of Fundraising will assist the fundraising subcommittee organize events and produce creative methods to raise money for the division.

Head of Social Media 

The Head of Social Media is responsible for managing UCL LWOB’s social media presence and delegating work to the subcommittee in ensuring timely updates for the division’s activities. This includes promoting our events and publications as well as communicating with external partners on our social media channels.

Head of Events

The Head of Events will oversee the organising of events to promote awareness of the division and engage students with topical human rights discussions. Events include panel talks, debates, and moots. 

Head of Research

The Head of Research will oversee the team conducting research into human rights and the rule of law, organise the UCL entry for the Rule of Law Innovation Challenge (ROLIC), and assist the committee with other research tasks.


Subcommittees

Publications

As a member of the Publications Subcommittee, you will take on a dual role in writing write to raise awareness about key human rights issues and conduct interviews with fellow students regarding LWOB events, while also contributing to shaping UCL LWOB’s print materials. In this dynamic position, you'll play a pivotal role in crafting engaging and informative publications on international rule of law and human rights in the form of articles and journal-style content. Collaboration with a diverse team and other societies is a key aspect of this role, and you'll be working on long-form articles during the term, typically with deadlines around reading weeks and before/after holidays.

Fundraising

As a member of the Fundraising Subcommittee, you will help organise events (previous events: bake sales, fun runs, reality shows) while considering the division of funds. You will help brainstorm creative ways to raise funds for LWOB and work alongside your peers in collaboration with other pro-bono groups, within and outside of UCL.

Events

As a member of the Events Subcommittee, you will get hands-on experience in organising UCL LWOB’s wide range of activities. Previous events we have organised include human rights sharing panels with other student pro bono groups, mooting and debating competitions, and volunteering opportunities in collaboration with other LWOB student divisions.

Social Media

As a member of the Social Media Subcommittee, you will help manage our posting schedule, design publicity materials and eye-catching graphics for our events and outreach activities and curate short-form content for our social media channels. You will also design publication posts for the articles posted by our Publications Subcommittee to engage readers and promote our UCL LWOB blog.

Research

As a member of the Research Subcommittee, you will be part of the UCL team representing our student division in the annual LWOB Rule of Law Innovation Challenge (ROLIC). Together with your team, you will create a project to engage with one of the topics inspired by real-life work conducted by LWOB. Join us in this valuable opportunity to contribute and aid the development of innovative educational mechanisms to support the rule of law!

Membership of the division entails a high degree of responsibility. You will be expected to meet frequently, discuss ideas, and actively pursue targets, which will be overseen by the committee. You must also sign a Volunteer Agreement with the CAJ, which outlines your commitments and what is expected of you when taking part in this pro bono project.

How to apply

Applications for Committee positions are now open. Please complete the following form to submit an application. 

Should you have any questions, please contact Xinyu Sia at xinyu.sia.21@ucl.ac.uk