We are delighted to announce that Garden Court Chambers has been nominated for five awards at the Legal 500 UK ESG Awards 2025.
The Legal 500 ESG awards celebrate the very best ESG initiatives across the UK legal market. From private practice, in-house, to the Bar, these awards will see organisations and individuals recognised for their efforts to bring about change across all aspects of ESG; from diversity & inclusion to sustainability strategies, and pro bono to social mobility initiatives.
Garden Court Chambers is delighted to be shortlisted in five categories:
- School Inclusion Project (SIP) – Pro bono Initiative of the Year (UK)
- Garden Court Chambers – Ethnicity: Best Initiative to Attract and Retain Talent
- Garden Court Chambers – Social Mobility: Best Initiative to Attract and Retain Talent
- Grace Brown – DE&I: Champion of the Year (Bar)
- Grace Brown – Ethnicity: Champion of the Year
Garden Court is proud of its commitment to diversity. We were founded in 1974 with a commitment to promote social justice and equality. Our founding members wanted to work in an environment with a balance of sexes and races and work towards justice for all. These ‘revolutionary’ aspirations have shaped our standards and we have consistently worked towards achieving social progress. Our motto: ‘Do right, fear no-one’, encapsulates this stance of achieving justice and defending the rights of individuals through an innovative and bold approach.
Our pioneering and award-winning mentoring scheme, ‘Access to the Bar for All’, encourages students from minority and disadvantaged groups to consider a career as a barrister. Sixteen-year-old students, girls and/or those from ethnic minority and disadvantaged groups are offered. In addition to having a barrister mentor over the five-year period, the scheme also awards scholarships to two students, if they study Law, of £7000 per year, over three years. We currently have two law students receiving these scholarships.
Garden Court Chambers is shortlisted for ‘Ethnicity: Best Initiative to Attract and Retain Talent’. This award celebrates initiatives intended to attract lawyers from ethnic minoritised communities at a graduate/junior level and to retain them. Garden Court Chambers is shortlisted for ‘Social Mobility: Best Initiative to Attract and Retain Talent’. This award celebrates initiatives intended to boost social mobility within the organisation/profession by attracting and retaining talented lawyers from less privileged backgrounds.
Grace Brown is shortlisted for ‘DE&I: Champion of the Year (Bar)’ and ‘Ethnicity: Champion of the Year’. Grace is committed to the advancement of Black and ethnic-minoritised lawyers and those entering the profession through doing what is right, utilising her remarkable legal skill to advocate for marginalised people. Grace is regularly instructed in Windrush cases and works tirelessly for this cause, frequently advising solicitors, community groups and organisations in relation to this, often pro bono. Grace has challenged inequities and failings of the Windrush and Windrush Compensation Schemes in the courts and has spoken at countless Windrush related events, including the ‘Voices of Windrush Festival’ and ‘Law & the Windrush Scandal’.
Grace is appointed to the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s preferred Panel of Counsel, and is a Trustee of Haringey Migrants Support Centre and Voice of Domestic Workers. Grace is a regular speaker at Black History Month events, a mentor on the Inner Temple Mentoring Scheme and a Pegasus Scholar Host. Before becoming one of our Joint Heads of Chambers, Grace was the former Equality & Diversity Officer and chaired our Race Task Force for many years. She is a former member of the Bar Council’s Equality & Diversity Officers Network. Grace always ensures diversity and inclusion sit high on the agenda of the Management Committee She is a committed and valued mentor for our ‘Access to the Bar for All’ Scheme.
Grace is shortlisted for ‘DE&I: Champion of the Year (Bar)’. This category acknowledges a truly standout individual for their contribution to diversity and inclusion at the Bar. Grace is also shortlisted for ‘Ethnicity: Champion of the Year’. This category acknowledges exceptional individual contributions to boosting representation of lawyers from ethnic minoritised communities within the legal profession, covering private practice, in-house and the Bar, and all levels of seniority. Judges will be looking for evidence of involvement/leadership of key initiatives to attract and retain ethnic minority lawyers within the profession or involvement in broader, industry-wide initiatives.
The School Inclusion Project (SIP) brings together lawyers, advisers and campaigners with expertise in the field of school exclusions and related issues, to address systemic discrimination in the education system. SIP is a forum coordinated by the Garden Court Chambers Education Law Team, Communities Empowerment Network, Coram Children’s Legal Centre and Law Centres Network. Most of SIP’s communications are by email (via a GoogleGroup), with meetings throughout the year for SIP members to discuss topical issues. SIP is open to individuals and organisations that support children who have been excluded and/or discriminated against in school.
SIP was launched in July 2021, and now comprises over 200 lawyers working, mostly pro bono, to represent those who have been unfairly excluded from school. The key goals of SIP are to:
- Facilitate referrals for legal representation in school exclusion hearings and related legal proceedings
- Share knowledge and best practice
- Identify and address systemic issues
The Legal 500 UK ESG Awards 2025 will be held on Tuesday 25 March 2024.
View the full shortlist here.
