Lawyers without Borders Student Division at UCL

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 Sub-Groups. 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
• Co-Head of Publications (Digital Media)
• Co-Head of Publications (Print)
• Head of Fundraising
• Head of Social Media
• Head of Events
• Head of Research
• Head of Social Media

LWOB Sub-Groups Vacancies (applications open 3 October 2022):

• Events Subcommittee (x3 Vacancies): The Events subcommittee is responsible for organising events to promote awareness of the division and engage students with topical human rights discussions. Events include panel talks, debates, and moots. 

• Fundraising Subcommittee (x3 Vacancies): The Fundraising subcommittee organizes events and produces creative methods to raise money for the division.

• Social Media Subcommittee (x3 Vacancies): The Social Media team is responsible for updating and expanding the division’s social media presence. This includes advertising the division’s events and publications on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

• Publications Subcommittee (x6 Vacancies): The Publications team produces two main publications: a weekly blog, and a termly journal. As part of this team, you will be responsible for helping write, edit, and publish articles to raise awareness of key human rights issues.

• Research Subcommittee (x3 Vacancies): The Research team conducts research into human rights and the rule of law, organises the UCL entry for the Rule of Law Innovation Challenge (ROLIC), and assists the committee with other research tasks. 

This is a fantastic opportunity for law and non-law students who are interested in human rights and international law to share, develop and build on their experience.

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 open on Monday 3 October 2022. The deadline for applications are 16 October 2022 at 11:59pm. Please complete this form before the deadline.  

Please also complete this Equality and Diversity Form alongside your application, which will be used only for statistical purposes for the CAJ.