We are delighted to announce the winner of our law undergraduate essay competition 2023-2024!
The question we posed ‘Should the right to be protest be unfettered?’ prompted a fantastic response. We were thrilled to receive submissions from law undergraduates at 17 different universities in the UK. Congratulations to all the entrants for taking part and for engaging with the question.
The question was not an easy one to answer in 1,000 words: the essays demonstrated excellent research and analysis of this fundamental right. The challenges of today’s world are many and law students and lawyers all play a vital role in public understanding around the right to protest, and its role in a democratic society where positive change can take place and where governments are held to account.
Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, Lord Carnwath of Notting Hill CVO and Fiona Rutherford, Chief Executive of JUSTICE judged the final round and announced the winner in this film.
Runner up: Omar Elmousa, University of Leicester
Finalists: Lim Xiao Ching, University of Exeter; Aaliya Roy Kundal, University College London
Lauren will be undertaking a week’s work experience at the London office of international law firm McDermott Will & Emery. Our thanks to McDermott Will & Emery for this offering this wonderful opportunity to the winner. Lauren’s essay will be published on the ILBF’s website and in Thought Leaders 4 Fire newsletter. We will also publish Omar’s runner up essay on the ILBF website.
Our thanks to all of the judges and in particular to Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, Lord Carnwath of Notting Hill CVO and Fiona Rutherford for the final judging and their support for the competition.
We would also like to thank McDermott Will & Emery for sponsoring the competition this year and their invaluable support for the ILBF’s mission.
We wish all the entrants to our law undergraduate essay competition the very best of luck in their studies and their future careers. It was a pleasure to read your essays.
In due course we will publish a grand summary of all the ideas in the submitted essays, with the goal to keep awareness and knowledge of the right to protest at the forefront of legal and public discourse.
ILBF judging team:
- The Rt Hon. Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, former Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, founder and Patron of the ILBF
- The Rt Hon. Lord Carnwath of Notting Hill CVO, former Supreme Court Justice, Visiting Professor in Practice at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, and founding member of the EU Forum of Judges for the Environment, and of the Global Institute of Judges for the Environment
- Fiona Rutherford, Chief Executive of JUSTICE and former Director of Policy at the MoJ
- Jane Colston, Brown Rudnick, ILBF Trustee
- Mark Stephens CBE, Howard Kennedy, ILBF Trustee
- Sophia Dirir, Head of Legal, Cancer Research UK, ILBF trustee
- Hon. Justice Tawanda Hondora, High Court of Belize, ILBF trustee
- Maryann McMahon, Council Member JUSTICE, ILBF Trustee
- Katrina Crossley, Chief Executive of the ILBF
- Ellen Lake, Clifford Chance, ILBF Operating Committee
- Elisabeth Moseley, McDermott Will & Emery
- Sarah Trotter, Assistant Professor of Law, London School of Economics and Political Science, ILBF Operating Committee
- Chiara Iorizzo, McDermott Will & Emery
- Ayuushman Aroraa, Advocate, Supreme Court of India
