August 2024

In July 2024, Justice First Fellows gathered in Dundee for our third annual Justice First Residential weekend. Over 70 people came together for the weekend, from current Fellows who started their training this spring to alumni Fellows, including from our very first cohort 10 years ago! With Fellows spread across the UK, the Residential was a chance for them to meet or reunite, share their experiences and discuss working together to take forward this unique movement of lawyers committed to social justice. The weekend offered a range of perspectives on life and work as a social justice lawyer, including career development, wellbeing, and the chance to think about social justice law in theoretical as well as practical ways. Sessions included:

• presentations from Amma Birth Companions on their work supporting vulnerable pregnant people, and from Lucy Miller, Human Rights Consortium Scotland and Barbara Bolton, JustRight Scotland on the legal landscape in Scotland
• workshops covering topics from vicarious trauma and self-care to protest rights and government accountability, and more
• a poetry performance by Noon Salah Eldin, whose work explores themes of identity, protest and migration
• a mini graduation ceremony celebrating some of the most recently qualified Fellows

Katy Watts, an alumni Fellow who now works as a lawyer at human rights group Liberty, said: “I had a great time catching up with everyone, and I also really enjoyed all the sessions I attended. The keynote was so interesting, and also a really useful guide for navigating strategic litigation with a more pro-human rights government in Westminster.” Rachel Lovell, another alumni Fellow who’s now a solicitor at Southwark Law Centre, said: “It was a great weekend as ever and now some of my cohort have moved into other sectors it has been really great to have a way of keeping up with them.”