Inspired by Law gallery galvanises next generation of human rights lawyers

Students at London South Bank University have honoured outstanding lawyers and campaigners in the fields of human rights and social justice with a new photo gallery project called ‘Inspired by Law’.

At the gallery’s launch last week, LSBU students revealed the 11 lawyers and campaigners whose portraits they had nominated to be part of the gallery and explained the reasons for each lawyer’s nomination, before opening the gallery for viewing. Among the 11 nominees were:

• human rights barrister Baroness Helena Kennedy QC;
• former judge at the International Criminal Court, Professor Akua Kuenyehia;
• award winning women’s rights campaigner Diana Nammi;
• director of the human rights and civil liberties group Liberty, Shami Chakrabarti;
• former president of the Law Society and human rights lawyer, Lucy Scott-Moncrieff; and
• environmental campaigner and lawyer James Thornton.

The event was well attended by representatives from renowned human rights and charitable organisations including Action Aid, Amnesty International, the Bar Council, Columbian Caravana and the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, while students in the audience were also inspired by a panel discussion conducted by the leading human rights advocates being celebrated.

Alex Varga, law student at LSBU, said: “Having all these inspirational lawyers and their representatives here strengthened my desire to be a responsible lawyer, to use my legal knowledge to counter social injustices and uphold human rights and the rule of law.”