UCL centre for access to justice wins social enterprise project of the year

The UCL Social Enterprise Project of the Year Award recognises a recently established project run by UCL staff and students, which demonstrates the positive application of entrepreneurial skills as well as a commitment to creating social benefit, rather than profit alone.

Following its launch in 2013, the UCL Centre for Access to Justice has developed partnerships with legal charities the Free Representation Unit and Just for Kids Law to provide casework and representation services to over 120 clients.

Delivered as part of the LLB final year module, Access to Justice and Community Engagement, students take on a range of education and community care cases, which include drafting complaints to local authorities and providing direct tribunal representation of clients on social security cases.

The Centre also organises a busy pro bono programme for students across all years at UCL Laws, ranging from delivering public legal education projects in local schools, to widening participation and mentoring activities.

Shiva Riahi, the Centre’s manager and a Research Associate at UCL Laws said: “We are so immensely proud of the work we do at the Centre and what are students able to accomplish but to have this work recognised by the wider UCL community as a social enterprise is really meaningful and we are very grateful.”

Now in its eighth year, the UCL Awards for Enterprise recognise the innovation and entrepreneurship of academic staff and students. The theme of this year’s awards was ‘enterprise is everywhere’, emphasising the importance of enterprise in every aspect of UCL’s work.

The team from the UCL Centre for Access to Justice, including Shiva, Rachel Knowles and former Centre Director, Jacqui Kinghan, were presented with their award at a special ceremony held at BASE KX, a new space for creative and product companies in Kings Cross, due to open in autumn 2015. BASE KX will be managed by UCL Advances and supported by Camden Town UnLimited and the London Borough of Camden.

Photo: Rachel Knowles, Jacqui Kinghan and Shiva Riahi