Amicus (UCL Chapter)

About the Project

Amicus ALJ is a legal charity in the United Kingdom that works to provide support to capital defence lawyers in the United States. The UCL Chapter of Amicus provides a platform for both law and non-law students to become involved with Amicus ALJ. Our Project’s aim is to raise awareness of the death penalty and provide a forum for students to engage with the surrounding legal issues.

About Amicus at UCL

The UCL Amicus Committee manage and organise events that will achieve the objectives of Amicus ALJ itself. This includes raising awareness for the internship programme, the death penalty and general issues regarding access to justice. 

Most importantly you will work to educate others in the UCL community, and beyond, about the death penalty and the work of Amicus ALJ. Last year we organised a number of activities including:

• Panel event raising interest for the Amicus Internship.
• Mock Trial Competition on the death penalty.
• Debate against KCL on the use of lethal injections.
• Invited guest speakers Sunny Jacobs and Peter Pringle.
• Bake sale to raise funds for Amicus.
• Started a blog

Current Vacancies

Events Officer x 2 

• Responsible for assisting the delivery of Committee events (including careers and networking events, as well panel discussions on human rights / criminal justice/ access to justice topics);
• To organize, with assistance from Amicus, all event logistical details;
• To recruit and manage additional event volunteers to assist with on-the-day event coordination where required;
• To liaise with the Co-Presidents in setting the Events Agenda for the Academic year.
• To cooperate with the Social Media Team to promote and publicise events;

Social media and Campaigns Officer x1 

• Responsible for promoting Amicus’s events and activities 
• Internal campaigns will involve promoting careers, fundraising events and competitions held by Amicus’s UCL Chapter. 
• External campaigns will focus on raising awareness of death penalty, and promoting Amicus’s upcoming training programmes/placements, and encourage students to purchase Amicus membership.
• Whether internal or external facing both Officers will be free to create dynamic, engaging content in support of their campaigns, to be published on the Amicus social media channels including Facebook and Instagram.

Mock Trial / Moot Officer x1

• Responsible for organising and delivering Amicus mooting competitions and mock trials. 
• This includes setting up the competition registration, reserving the location and delivering the competitions.
• The officer will need to liaise with Amicus for inviting a guest judge for the competitions.   
• To cooperate with the Social Media Team to promote the competitions. 

Publications Officers x2

• Responsible for publishing articles on AMICUS channels 
• Responsible for managing Amicus’s contribution to UCL CAJ blog and AMICUS newsletter
• This will include commissioning and editing articles from students on a range of topics concerning Access to Justice, volunteering and internship experience with Amicus, and the death penalty in the US. 
• This also includes promoting Amicus Events in the blog 
• The Publications Officers will liaise closely with the social media team to encourage entry submissions and the events officers.

How to Apply

Recruitment for AMICUS president, or 'Student Representative' is conducated directly through AMICUS ALJ. If you would like to apply to be the 'Student Representative,' please email Annika Melwani after you have submitted your application. This will make it possible for UCL and Amicus to keep a record of who has applied. If you do not send an email to Annika once you have submitted your application, this may affect your ability to successfully join the UCL Chapter of Amicus. 

You can apply to be the president of the UCL Student Chapter of Amicus via this link: https://www.amicus-alj.org/how-help/student-groups. 

Should you have any questions about Amicus, please contact Evelyn Ho and Ursula Copping-Trigg at evelyn.ho.23@ucl.ac.uk and ursula.copping-trigg.21@ucl.ac.uk. 

UCL Amicus Newsletter

Find Us on Social Media 

Amicus (UCL Chapter) on Facebook 

Amicus (UCL Chapter) on Instagram 

2024/25 Committee  

President - Evelyn Ho and Ursula Copping-Trigg (evelyn.ho.23@ucl.ac.uk, ursula.copping-trigg.21@ucl.ac.uk)

Contact the Committee at ucl.amicus@ucl.ac.uk