National award for Windrush advice

Best New Pro Bono Activity

LJMU's Legal Advice Centre has won ‘Best New Pro Bono Activity’ at the 2025 Law Works and Attorney General Student Pro Bono Awards.

The event held at the House of Lords in London celebrates the best pro bono activities undertaken by law students and law schools across the UK.

The award celebrated LJMU’s Windrush Community Law Clinic, which is run by staff, students and local legal firms, who offer free advice to people seeking redress or status from the government.

Rachel Stalker who leads the Legal Advice Centre accepted the award alongside LJMU staff, students and charity representatives from Liverpool Advocates For Windrush.

What is the Windrush Community Law Clinic?

The Windrush Community Law Clinic in collaboration with Liverpool Advocates for Windrush launched in July 2024 and is led by local lawyers Tonika Stephenson and Martyn Rodmell, with Rachel Stalker of Liverpool John Moores University supervising both volunteers and students.

The clinic provides two-fold support to people eligible for the Windrush Compensation Scheme (WCS), of which there are suspected to be around 1,200 in the Merseyside area. The first aspect involves casework support to apply to the WCS and/or signposting for other immigration law advice. The second aspect involves the creation of a user-friendly web-app allowing members of the public to check their eligibility for the WCS. Both aspects of the project are supported by 15 students from Liverpool John Moores University.

To date, the project has provided casework support to 32 individuals and has reached the pilot and feedback stage of the app design, as well as promoting the availability of the WCS through events and regular media appearances.