We are delighted to announce that four Garden Court barristers have been shortlisted at Advocate’s Bar Pro Bono Awards 2026.
The Bar Pro Bono Awards celebrate the remarkable pro bono achievements of the Bar in England & Wales, held annually to ensure that the brilliant pro bono work happening at the Bar receives the recognition it rightly deserves.
Garden Court Chambers is delighted to be nominated in four awards across three categories:
- Marc Willers KC – Pro Bono KC of the Year
- Raza Halim – Junior Pro Bono Barrister of the Year
- Ollie Persey – Junior Pro Bono Barrister of the Year
- Acland Bryant – Young Pro Bono Barrister of the Year
Marc Willers KC – Pro Bono KC of the Year
Marc Willers KC specialises in areas including environmental law & climate justice; planning law; public law; civil liberties, and Gypsy, Traveller & Roma law. Marc is recommended in the Chambers UK and the Legal 500 Bar Guides. He is also a member of both the Bar of Ireland and the Bar of Northern Ireland.
Marc led the legal team pro bono in the successful Privy Council case of Mussington and Frank. Appellants challenged Antigua’s granting planning permission for a new airport on Barbuda on environmental grounds. Following appeal, the Board decided appellants had standing, remitting the case for trial. He has successfully acted for Alternative A5 Alliance with Acland Bryant. He also successfully represented Clodagh Miskelly of Stop Whitehead Oil Terminal (SWOT) pro bono in an Application for Leave to Apply for Judicial Review, alongside Acland Bryant. The decision to approve the oil terminal expansion was quashed.
Marc also successfully represented the Swiss Senior Women, as part of an international legal team in the first climate litigation case heard by the Grand Chamber of the ECHR, advising Greenpeace pro bono.Marc is a University College Cork Adjunct Professor and Goldsmiths University Visiting Professor, giving talks to students. Marc was Joint Head of Garden Court between 2016 – 2020 and won Legal Aid Lawyer 2011. Marc regularly writes for Gypsy and Traveller Law and Environment Law (LAG). He edited the Environmental Justice Network Ireland’s handbook.
Raza Halim – Junior Pro Bono Barrister of the Year
Raza Halim’s practice is dominated by work in judicial review and appellate proceedings in the areas of asylum and immigration, civil liberties, homelessness & national security. This is predominantly legally-aided, with some of the most vulnerable clients globally. He has acted in many of the important test cases in these areas, and undertakes a substantial amount of urgent, interim relief work. He is ranked in the Chambers UK Bar Guide for Immigration and Public Law.
Raza is co-founder and legal advisor to Pure Project Hope (PPH), a pro bono humanitarian initiative committed to facilitating life-saving medical evacuation of children in Gaza. PPH has secured three landmark outcomes: (1) the first ever medical evacuation of children from Gaza to the UK, green-lit by Her Majesty’s Government (HMG), (2) the first ever medevac of a Gazan child suffering war injuries to the UK, green-lit by HMG, and (3) Prime Minister agreeing to initiate a Government-led scheme to evacuate 50 children from Gaza to the UK for urgent medical treatment.
Raza also provided legal advice on medevacs of children from Gaza to other countries, and worked in cases brought to UK courts on behalf of Syrian refugees accepted onto resettlement schemes. Raza also advised Choose Love, a charity supporting refugees and displaced people.
Ollie Persey – Junior Pro Bono Barrister of the Year
Ollie is a public law and human rights barrister who is ranked as a leading junior in the directories across his practice areas.
Ollie co-convenes Garden Court’s Education Law and Community Care Law teams and coordinates the School Inclusion Project (‘SIP’), a forum to address the disproportionate impact of school exclusion on disabled and racial minority children. Ollie acts in test case litigation to increase the provision of legal aid in school exclusion hearings. However, as there remain large gaps in the legal aid safety net Ollie acts pro bono in dozens of school exclusion hearings every year, generally through the fast-track scheme that Advocate provides for SIP or instructed by the brilliant team at Coram Children’s Legal Centre.
Ollie also frequently advises NGOs pro bono on complex legal and policy issues. His advice for National AIDS Trust was shared with government and led to a Brexit-related delegated power being used to remove the prohibition on ‘Undetectable = Untransmittable’ HIV+ people becoming surrogate parents.
Ollie won the Legal Aid Newcomer Award at the Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year (‘LALY’) Awards 2024 and was a finalist for a ‘Junior of the Year’ award at the Legal 500 Awards 2022. He is a director of the Education Law Association (‘ELAS’), co-chair of trustees at Southwark Law Centre and a founding trustee of Newham Community Law Project (to open in 2026, which aims to become a law centre in the most socioeconomically deprived borough of London) and a former co-chair of Young Legal Aid Lawyers.
Acland Bryant – Young Pro Bono Barrister of the Year
Acland Bryant is developing a broad administrative and public law practice, specialising in cases that involve issues of environmental and climate justice. Acland was highly commended at Advocate’s Pro Bono Awards 2025 and has continued to build his pro bono practice, dedicating over 250 hours to pro bono work in the past year. He continues to specialise in environmental law and animal welfare.
Acland continues to represent Clodagh Miskelly of Stop Whitehead Oil Terminal pro bono, and act for Friends of the Earth on the Curraghinalt Project (Dalradian) Public Inquiry, an Inquiry into plans for a gold-silver-copper mine in County Tyrone. Acland was on the legal team in the successful Court of Appeal challenge against Larne Lough gas cavern construction plans.
Acland has also provided pro bono advice and/or representation in tribunals, the High Court and Court of Appeal on a range of issues, including disability discrimination claims, animal welfare cases, Europe’s first climate-related OECD complaint, quarrying and major developments affecting local communities.
Acland is a mentor through Lawyers Who Care, an organisation that breaks down barriers to provide care-experienced people with the opportunity and guidance to enter the legal profession. He is a Committee Member of the Legal Vegan Network and a legal panel member for Law for Change.
The 2026 Bar Pro Bono Awards are taking place on 19 May 2026.
View the full list of shortlisted candidates here.
