The Aberdeen Law Project has celebrated a year of great progress with its inaugural annual general meeting.
The student-founded law project, which aims to widen access to legal advice and representation to those in disadvantaged communities, has proved to be extremely popular within the North East due to its unrivalled range of services and educational programmes.
Since the establishment of The Project, which operates in partnership with The University of Aberdeen, it has grown and expanded with over 100 students now involved and an increasing diversity of cases being undertaken.
Ryan Whelan, Founder and Student Director, said,
“This year has been a year in which much has been achieved by the project. The AGM was an opportunity for our students to celebrate achievements in the year past and to plan the year ahead; it really was a terrific day.
“Nevertheless, celebrations aside, our work in the North East has in our eyes only just begun. The Aberdeen Law Project has many more innovative plans which aim to improve access to justice, and we look forward to continuing to work with our partners to achieve this aim.”
From L: Lord Woolman, Gary Allan QC, Lady Dorrian, Ryan Whelan and Sarah Miller
Speakers at the event included Lord Woolman, Lady Dorrian, Patrons of ALP, and Gary Allan QC, a member of the Advisory Committee. In addition to addressing the attendees, they led the students in an interactive training session designed to improve their advocacy skills.
The students were honoured to secure Mr Allan to give the first annual Casus Omissus lecture.
In his lecture, to be published by the Aberdeen Student Law Review, Mr Allan said,
“The establishment of The Aberdeen Law Project is a success story, and in the present times there are precious few of those to enjoy. The University of Aberdeen should be very proud that its students are organising and taking a lead from the best of practice from England and abroad.
“It is my fervent hope but confident belief that the vision shown here, drawing on moral duty and social imperative, but also mindful of the poor public perception of lawyers, serves to demonstrate that lawyers are not all money grabbers driven by self interest.”
Professor Ian Diamond, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of The University of Aberdeen, said,
“The Aberdeen Law Project is an initiative which both I, and The University generally, hold in the highest regard. It really does serve to demonstrate what can be achieved by the exceptional students that we teach here at The University of Aberdeen.”