Leducate’s ⚖ April News Blast ⚖
For those of you who have not yet subscribed to our newsletter, here is a copy of our April 2020 quarterly newsletter.
Welcome to our brand new newsletter!
Leducate celebrated its first birthday this January, proving time really does fly when having fun! In that time, we’ve met some fantastic friends, forged some terrific partnerships and seen our curriculum taught to hundreds of students in one way or another in London and Nottingham. And to everyone who has given up their time, donated us money or just cheered us on at any point, I want to say thank you for everything so far! Stay tuned though, because there’s lots more to come!
Adam Kayani,
Director
⚖ Legal News ⚖
In Legal news this month, we’ve been reading all about the various ways that law firms are coping with the coronavirus crisis, with some City firms slashing pay for partners. We’ve also been reading up on Sir Keir Starmer, the newly elected leader of the Labour Party, and former Director of Public Prosecutions and Head of the Crown Prosecution Service. The Lawyer has a great write-up of 25 years of stories about him. Lastly, it’s been fascinating to read about the new powers granted to UK police in the wake of coronavirus. The Times has a great write-up explaining exactly what powers the police have.
📺 Looking for your next watch? 📺
The TV show Quiz this week was a fascinating dramatisation of the ‘Who wants to be a millionaire?’ coughing scandal in 2001. Interspersing tense quiz show scenes with courtroom drama, it highlighted some of the tensions in the interaction between popular culture and law. From a legal perspective, it exposed the role of the media in criminal justice and it raised the question of how much a ‘trial by media’ can influence a trial by an unbiased jury of your peers. Though the courtroom on TV might not always be a perfect reflection of the real thing – doubtful that a barrister would say “Okie dokie!” to the judge in real life – it is a great way of visualising the justice system and perhaps helps to demystify all the wigs and gowns.
✍️ Justice Diaries ✍️
In the coming weeks, we are very excited to be launching our brand new Justice Diaries. Taking inspiration from Refinery 29, we will highlight the daily goings on in the life of a lawyer to showcase the ups, downs and daily grind of a life in law. We hope that this will encourage our readers to explore careers in law that may otherwise seem scary or out of reach, and hope that it demonstrates that lawyers are just like you and I. If you like it or are a lawyer who wants to take part, get in touch!
Debt Awareness Week
In the past couple of months, we’ve been championing lots of great initiatives run by others. Debt Awareness Week, a fantastic initiative launched by StepChange to increase awareness about debt, encouraged people to #ChangeYourDebtStory by getting educated about money management. We cover debt as part of our Contractual Rights module, and supported the campaign on our social media sites. We also celebrated the UN’s International Day of Education way back in January, hearing from teacher Joe Myers, who told us why legal education is a critical part of a child’s education.
Justice Week 2020
In February, we were thrilled to partner with The Bar Council and The Law Society for Justice Week 2020 . Our sold out panel event at Middle Temple was fantastic, and we’d like to thank all our wonderful panellists for taking part in an important discussion about Fighting For Rights. Thanks to Lauren Watson, Rowena Moffatt, Master Elaine Banton and our brilliant chair Amanda Pinto QC, Chair of The Bar Council. We can’t wait for our next event!
We’d also like to thank our other partners who helped us deliver a series of exciting events throughout the week. So it’s thanks to Chancery barrister Zara McGlone for her blog on the role of Chancery law, to the Public Law Project’s Legal Director Alison Pickup, who answered our student’s questions on the constitution for our first Constitutional Call In, and of course, to our students!
Other News
Way back in January, we partnered with the Redhill Trust for its annual Moving On Day. In total, over 280 Year 13 students from five schools in Nottinghamshire attended a day of interactive, rotational talks to inspire and prepare them for life at university or their first apprenticeship. We were thrilled to join them to speak about Health and Relationships, leading discussions on consent, safe sex, healthy and toxic relationships, and family rights.
Also in February, we really enjoyed taking part in the speed networking day at King Solomon Academy where Leducate joined Killik & Co and others from various occupations to speak to GCSE-level students about exciting careers in law and further afield. We hope we inspired them!
❤️ We're thinking of you! ❤️
Lastly, at this difficult time for everyone, we wanted to send a shoutout to teachers working hard to keep schools open during the ongoing crisis, and those navigating the challenges of teaching from home. We are thinking of you and please do let us know if we can support you in any way we can. We’re currently working away at getting our curriculum ready for the next academic year, and hope to join you back in schools soon.
Love the Leducate Team x