Cambridge University Students' Pro Bono Society Lectures

The Cambridge Pro Bono Project (CPP) hosted the annual lecture featuring Professor Judge Leonardo Brant (International Court of Justice; Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil) on Thursday 16th May 2025.The Cambridge Pro Bono Project is a research centre that draws on the subject-matter expertise of graduate researchers and Faculty experts to produce reports on a wide range of public interest matters. Every year, we invite distinguished speakers to address our researchers, staff, and students at the University of Cambridge. For more information about the Cambridge Pro Bono Project, see https://www.cpp.law.cam.ac.uk/ Twitter (https://twitter.com/Cam_ProBono) or Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/CamProBono).

Cambridge Pro Bono Project hosted Eileen Dong at the Faculty of Law on Wednesday, 15 May 2024.Eileen Dong, a renowned UN Ambassador, distinguished member of the US Committee for Refugees & Immigrants Advisory Board, and expert in combating human trafficking, will explore the critical intersections between UN’s 2030 Global Goals and the ongoing efforts to address gender-based violence and human trafficking. Drawing from her extensive experience and multidisciplinary approach, Ambassador Dong sheds light on the vital role of cross-sector collaborations in addressing human rights violations and gender-based violence.Serving as the Founder and Executive Director of Hope Pyx Global as well as a consultant for US Center for Countering Human Trafficking, Homeland Security Investigations, Department of Justice, US Attorney’s Office, and US Citizenship and Immigration Services, Dong has committed her work to eliminating abuse, exploitation, trafficking, violence, and torture, while building safe spaces for survivo

The Cambridge Pro Bono Project (CPP) hosted the annual lecture featuring Professor Christine Chinkin, FBA.The Cambridge Pro Bono Project is a research centre that draws on the subject-matter expertise of graduate researchers and Faculty experts to produce reports on a wide range of public interest matters. Every year, we invite distinguished speakers to address our researchers, staff, and students at the University of Cambridge. This year's Cambridge Pro Bono Project Annual Lecture will be delivered by Professor Christine Chinkin and chaired by Professor Surabhi Ranganathan, Professor of International Law and Deputy Director of the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law.Professor Chinkin, FBA is the founding Director of the Centre for Women, Peace, and Security and Emeritus Professor of International Law at the London School of Economics and Political Science. During her illustrious career, she has served on the Human Rights Advisory Panel established by UNMIK in Kosovo and as Scientific Advisor to the Coun

The Cambridge Pro Bono Project (CPP) hosted this annual lecture, in which Dr Justice DY Chandrachud (Chief Justice of India) discussed the topic 'The Relationship Between Constitutional Rights and Constitutional Structure' on 30 May 2023.For more information about the Cambridge Pro Bono Project, see https://www.cpp.law.cam.ac.uk/

On Wednesday 19th May 2021 the Cambridge Pro Bono Project hosted Baroness Beeban Kidron.Baroness Beeban Kidron OBE is a Crossbench Peer in the UK House of Lords and Chair of 5Rights Foundation. For 30 years, Baroness Kidron worked as a film director, making TV and film dramas and documentaries in the UK and Hollywood. She is best known for directing an adaption of the novel Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason.Baroness Kidron was appointed to the House of Lords, where she takes a particular interest in all things digital. She introduced a ground-Breaking piece of data protection legislation, ‘the Age Appropriate Design Code’, which gives under 18’s a high bar of data protection.Kidron is the Founder and Chair of 5Rights Foundation, whose mission is to build the digital world children and young people deserve. Most recently, 5Rights supported the UNCRC in drafting General Comment No. 35 on the relevance of children’s right to the digital world. This is anticipated to have global

The Cambridge Pro Bono Project (CPP) hosted this annual lecture, in which Lord Justice Singh, in conversation with Dr Stephanie Palmer discussed the topic 'The Unity of Law' on 27 April 2022.For more information about the Cambridge Pro Bono Project, see Twitter (https://twitter.com/Cam_ProBono) or Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/CamProBono).

An online event held by Cambridge Pro Bono Project and Action on Armed Violence.Over the course of its military involvement in the Syrian conflict, the UK Government has claimed that since 2014, some 1,700 British air strikes have only caused 1 known civilian death. Just last week, it was revealed that British forces are linked to the deaths of 86 children and more than 200 adult civilians during the Afghanistan conflict.The use of airborne explosive weapons by the United Kingdom in recent armed conflicts has created a risk that civilians might be the victims or unintended targets of the UK’s air strikes. By virtue of their operational characteristics and largely indiscriminate area-effects once detonated, airborne explosive weapons have been documented to have a greater potential to cause civilian death and injury than other conventional weapons.In a report written by Cambridge Pro Bono Project researchers for the London-based NGO Action on Armed Violence, the UK’s obligations under international humanitaria

The Cambridge Pro Bono Project (CPP) was delighted to welcome Pablo Gonzalez, Lawyer at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to speak on the topic 'Pro Bono Work at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights' on 9 March 2021.For more information about the Cambridge Pro Bono Project, see https://www.cpp.law.cam.ac.uk/

The Cambridge Pro Bono Project (CPP) was delighted to welcome Jason Pobjoy, Barrister at Blackstone Chambers and Founder of Cambridge Pro Bono Project who spoke on the topic 'The Cambridge Pro Bono Project and Beyond'.For more information about the Cambridge Pro Bono Project, see https://www.cpp.law.cam.ac.uk

The Cambridge Pro Bono Project (CPP) is delighted to welcome Caoilfhionn Gallagher QC, Barrister at Doughty Street Chambers who spoke on the topic 'The Value of Pro Bono Work'.Caoilfhionn has acted in many of the leading human rights cases in the UK in recent years, including acting for bereaved families and survivors of the 7/7 London bombings and the Hillsborough disaster.For more information about the Cambridge Pro Bono Project, see https://www.cpp.law.cam.ac.uk

The Cambridge Pro Bono Project (CPP) is delighted to welcome Sir Jeffrey Jowell KCMG QC, Barrister at Blackstone Chambers; Emeritus Professor at UCL who spoke on the topic 'Is the UK Constitution Fit For Purpose?'.For more information about the Cambridge Pro Bono Project, see https://www.cpp.law.cam.ac.uk

Speaker: Professor Saul Lehrfreund MBE, Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of The Death Penalty ProjectThe Death Penalty Project is an international legal action charity based at Simons Muirhead & Burton LLP. It aims to use the law to protect prisoners facing execution and achieve fairer and more human justice systems around the world. Saul Lehrfreund MBE has dedicated his career to representing prisoners facing the death penalty in criminal and constitutional proceedings around the world and before human rights courts and other international bodies. He has also participated in expert delegations to Japan, China, Taiwan and India focusing on criminal justice reforms and the potential for restriction and abolition of the death penalty. Saul Lehrfreund MBE is a leading authority on capital punishment and international human rights law and has published and lectured extensively on these topics.The video featured in the presentation is available at https://deathpenaltyproject.org/knowledge/failed-justice-in

Speaker: Adam Wagner, Doughty Street ChambersThe coronavirus pandemic has driven liberal democracies to forfeit individual liberties of citizens in benefit of the collective well-being of society, thereby giving new colours to fundamental debates long entrenched in the human rights movement worldwide. In the UK, the most relevant corollary of the current crisis for the domestic legal sphere is that the provisions of the Human Rights Act (1998), much attacked by conservative leaders in the past decade, will from now on be discussed in a new light. From anti-vaxxers' freedom of choice to the government's enactment of confusing laws and beyond, the human rights dimensions of the COVID-19 crisis are multiple and far-reaching.To discuss the most salient human rights aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK, the CPP has invited the leading human rights barrister Adam Wagner to participate in our new (virtual) Speaker Series. Adam Wagner is a member of Doughty Street Chambers and has been appointed as Specialist A

The Cambridge Pro Bono Project (CPP) hosted this lecture in the CPP Colloquium Series, supported by the Centre for Public Law. The lecture was given by Professor John Corvino, at the Faculty of Law on 20 November 2017. He spoke about 'Conscience, Religious Accommodations, and Religious Exemptions'. The presentation for this lecture is available at:https://resources.law.cam.ac.uk/documents/Cambridge_Public_Lecture_Corvino_20_11_2017.pdfJohn Corvino is Professor of Philosophy and the incoming Dean of the Irvin D. Reid Honors College at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, USA. He is the author of numerous articles, as well as three books from Oxford University Press: Debating Same-Sex Marriage (with Maggie Gallagher, 2012), What's Wrong with Homosexuality? (2013), and Debating Religious Liberty and Discrimination (with Ryan T. Anderson and Sherif Girgis, 2017). He has lectured at over 250 campuses on topics of sexuality, marriage, and ethics. Read more at www.johncorvino.com.For more information on the

The Cambridge Pro Bono Project (CPP) hosted this lecture in the CPP Colloquium Series, supported by the Centre for Public Law. The lecture was given by Martha Spurrier, Director of Liberty, at the Faculty of Law on 14 November 2017. She spoke about 'Human Rights and Access to Justice in a Post-Brexit World'. Martha joined Liberty as Director in May 2016. She arrived from Doughty Street Chambers, where she specialised in defending access to justice and the rights of women, children and disabled people. In 2015 Martha co-founded the ‘Act for the Act’ campaign, which put posters on trains, buses and billboards across the country telling the stories of men, women and children who had used the Human Rights Act when things went wrong in their lives. Martha was previously a lawyer at the mental health charity, Mind, and at the Public Law Project.For more information on the Cambridge Pro Bono Project see https://www.cpp.law.cam.ac.uk/

On 9 March 2017 the Cambridge Pro Bono Project (CPP) hosted Jason Brickhill to speak on the topic '(Democratic) Politics by Other Means: Public Interest Litigation in South Africa'.He spoke about his experiences using law as an instrument of justice for the vulnerable and marginalised, including poor, homeless and landless people, at the Legal Resources Centre, South Africa's largest public interest, human rights law clinic.Jason has been an advocate at the Johannesburg Bar and was formerly the director of the Constitutional Litigation Unit, Legal Resources Centre (South Africa). He is currently a DPhil Candidate at Oxford, where his research focuses on public interest litigation in South Africa.

On 22 February 2017 the Cambridge Pro Bono Project Colloquium Series hosted a talk by Shauneen Lambe, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Just for Kids Law, giving a talk on her experiences, entitled "Using law as a tool to bring about social change". She discussed her work representing people on death row in the USA, and Just for Kids Law's campaigns and legal challenges which have changed laws and policy in education, youth justice and community care.Shauneen is a barrister in England and Wales and an attorney in Louisiana, USA, where she represented people facing the death penalty. In 1999 she helped establish the charity Reprieve, remaining on the board until 2006.In 2006 Shauneen and Aika Stephenson set up Just for Kids Law, a charity that provides 360 degree support and legal representation to vulnerable children and young people in the UK and drives systemic change. In 2015 Shauneen was made an Eisenhower Fellow. She is also a World Economic Forum ‘Young Global Leader,’ and one of NESTA/The Observer’s

On 6 February 2017 the Cambridge Pro Bono Project Colloquium Series hosted a talk by Colin Yeo, immigration barrister at Garden Court Chambers, and founding editor of the Free Movement blog - the UK's main immigration law blog.The talk reviewed some of the great results that have been achieved through immigration litigation, for individuals but also for classes or groups of migrants. Colin then considered some bad results of cause lawyering in immigration law and asks whether litigating immigration issues actually shows respect for and therefore legitimises those laws.This talk came at a fascinating time given the most major cause-lawyering case of its time, the Article 50 case (Miller v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union), has just been handed down by the UK Supreme Court.

Ivan Hare delivered a lecture as a guest of the Cambridge Pro Bono Project on Wednesday 23 November 2016 at the Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge.Ivan Hare, barrister at Blackstone Chambers, specialises in freedom of speech, and the line between that and hate speech. He has appeared in these cases in Strasbourg and the top UK courts. In this lecture he shared his experiences at the coal face in this controversial and crucially important area.For more information about the Cambridge Pro Bono Project please refer to the website at https://www.cpp.law.cam.ac.uk/

On 3 March 2014, Judge Nicholas Forwood delivered a lecture entitled "Protecting Individual Rights: Role of the General Court of Justice of the EU" as a guest of the Cambridge University Students' Pro Bono Society. Judge Forwood is the British judge in the General Court of Justice of the European Union, and spoke about how this institution can protect individual rights and about the recent developments in the area of European Human Rights law.