Open Justice Awards 2025

Each year, The Open Justice Centre celebrates the exceptional achievements of our high calibre students. Our annual awards are given to individual students or groups of students that make outstanding contributions to the projects they are involved in. Students are nominated by their tutors or project managers. 

Outstanding individual contribution to Open Justice (Iain Service Award) | Adam Hare, Delia Chin, Joanne Roberts, Kristina Mann

This year four students were awarded the ‘Iain Service Outstanding Individual Contribution’ award. The award is named in tribute to and memory of Iain Service, former ‘Justice in action’ student, Open Justice Centre volunteer and Law School alumni. 

Adam Hare – Individual winner

As a SiSE (Students in Secure Environments) student Adam was given his own project which involved creating public legal education resources (PLE) for either fellow prisoners or people that need more information on their legal rights. The goal for these projects is for SiSE students to create and develop resources that can educate and inform peers about key legal issues. These resources can include pamphlets, posters, handouts, or other accessible materials that are appropriate for their particular audiences.

Tutor Paul Dale who nominated Stephen for the award said:

'Adam is a SISE student with HMP Highpoint. Throughout the project Adam has gone above and beyond what is expected for the project. He has shown real passion for his work. He has held several workshops with other offenders, delivered several presentations and produced extensive library resources on the topic of recategorisation, in particular where prisoners want to apply for Cat D (Open Prison). He has also delivered presentations on the issues related to IPP (Indeterminate) Sentencing, which is an ongoing issue across prisons. After the submission of the reports, he has written a blog post for the Inside Times prison magazine to disseminate some of this work. Additionally, Adam has regularly received Band 1 grades for his TMAs'.

Paul Dale

Tutor

Delia Chin  – Individual winner 

Delia took part in the Legal Technology Project Clinic which offers students the opportunity to project design and build apps and chatbots using a platform developed by our STEM colleague and Associate Lecturer, David Byrne. Students are given a brief and then spend time researching the legal issues before they start designing their solution. Students are introduced to design thinking and explore the importance of human-centred design. This year some students also developed and tested chatbots using ChatGPT. You can read a blog written by Delia about winning the award here.

Delia was nominated by her tutor Mark Hayward who said:

‘Delia maintained a positive approach to her project and produced a really polished and useful chatbot that should be able to help a vulnerable set of people in the real world’.

Mark Hayward

Tutor

I'm genuinely delighted and deeply honoured to receive the Iain Service Award for outstanding individual contribution. Thank you very much for this lovely recognition and for the opportunity to be part of the Open Justice Activities this year! Getting involved in these projects has truly been a wonderful journey for me. It’s helped me understand access to justice even better and has really inspired my future career ambitions. At the moment, I’m excited to be working with a charity to expand my chatbot to reach more people

Delia Chin

 

Joanne Roberts  – Individual winner 

Joanne also took part in the Legal Technology Project Clinic which offers students the opportunity to project design and build apps and chatbots. You can read a blog written by Joanne about winning the award here as well as finding out more about the chatbot in a second blog written by Joanne here. 

Joanne was nominated by project lead Francine Ryan and David Byrne. Francine said:

Not only did Joanne work incredibly hard, developing an impressive chatbot drawing on key principles of legal design. She was also incredibly supportive of other students sharing her knowledge and experience to help them develop their chatbots.

Francine Ryan

Project Manager

'Being part of the Open Justice Project helped me connect the dots between legal education, digital design, and social impact. It showed me that technology can do more than inform, it can empower. It also reminded me how vital it is to design legal tools that are clear, accessible, and genuinely user-friendly. The experience has reshaped my future plans. I’d originally set my sights on becoming a solicitor, but working on this project and seeing the difference well-designed tools can make has opened a new path’

Joanne Roberts

 

 

 

Kristina Mann  – Individual winner 

Kristina took part in the Policy Clinic project which offers students the opportunity of gaining experience by carrying out legal policy and advocacy work for a charitable or third sector organisation or to influence government policy.

Kristina was nominated by her tutor Avril Martin who said:

Kristina despite challenges, showed resilience and high ethics by carrying on with the project almost single handed doing extra work including research, analysed this to a high level and wrote the report herself. With other students Kristina was kind and supportive providing guidance so that the other student did engage and really benefited from Kristina's kind help. Kristina was outstanding in her efforts liaising with the tutor project lead and carrying on’.

Avril Martin

Tutor

Kristina praised the experience saying:

Thank you very much for such amazing news! I am so pleased and honoured to know that all my hard work was so valuable! 

Kristina Mann

 

Outstanding team contribution to Open Justice | Zion Amadu, Vimbai Francine Makore, James Heavey, Tomas Jearrad, Ray Boothby, Katherine Leydon, Bryce McLaughlin

The ‘Outstanding team contribution to Open Justice’ saw a group of seven win in this year’s awards for their work on the International Law Project. For the International Law Project students undertake a piece of practical legal work with an international focus. The exact nature of the work varies from year-to-year but usually covers international environmental law, human rights law, and / or humanitarian law. It may include legal work to assist an international non-governmental organisation, a community, or a group of individuals. This year, the project partner was Law Students for Climate Accountability (LSCA), a high-profile NGO focused on informing and educating international lawyers about the consequences of their actions on the international environment. 

The team were nominated by Project Lead Paul Troop who said:

The group researched a fascinating topic, namely Aboriginal rock art that preserves a continuous history over many thousands of years, and how it is being destroyed by environmental pollution. They conducted and wrote up an insightful interview with one of the key researchers and specialists in this area and wrote a compelling and moving blog of the topic.

Paul Troop

Project Manager

Group member Tomas Jearrad said:

"Participating in the international law Open Justice project presented sufficient opportunities to apply legal knowledge to real-world situations whilst making a notable difference for our client. The project provided a crucial perspective in applying theoretical ideas to practical situations, which has been instrumental in my skills development and ultimately my post-graduate career. My participation has allowed me to demonstrate to employers that I possess key legal skills that will give me a helping hand in my role. Critical reflection is a foundation throughout the project, and this aspect has increased my self-awareness, allowing me to be mindful of my ongoing post-graduate skills development. The project also demands a concerted effort to working amongst a team to achieve a common goal and thus provided a great opportunity to share ideas with fellow students, whilst simultaneously building positive relationships. I would thoroughly recommend participation in the Open Justice projects to any student that would like to apply some of the knowledge and skills amassed over the initial years of study, to engaging real-world legal scenarios, whilst developing legal skills that are invaluable to any career.”