Pro Bono Pod: Recent Episodes
KCL Pro Bono Society
The legal and charitable sectors are intertwined. Pro Bono Pod explores the forces shaping their future, from technology, pervasive inequality and the climate crisis. It is brought to you by the KCL Pro Bono Society, one of the largest student-run pro bono organisations in the UK. Each month, members of our Main Committee will be joined by lawyers, academics, charities, activists and more, who will share their experiences, career journeys and predictions for years to come.
In our fifth episode, we are joined by Caroline Lindner, Careers Consultant here at King’s. Amina, President of Legal Outreach Project also joins the discussion as we investigate access to legal education, surpassing imposter syndrome, career paths for law students and student wellbeing. Your host Felix Mitchell, Treasurer of the KCL Pro Bono Society, delves right into the world of careers and seeks to get common student questions answered. ‘What can students do to cope with failure? What can students do to set themselves apart?’ We discover that law students have a wide range of support and mentorship schemes available to them. Caroline and Amina conclude this episode by discussing volunteering and how it can help students develop new skills.
In our fourth episode of Pro Bono Pod, we are joined by distinguished guest, I. Stephanie Boyce.
The Law Society of England and Wales first admitted women members in 1922 — a century later we now have our first sitting black female president, I. Stephanie Boyce. She is the 177th, 6th female, 1st Black and 1st person of colour and second in-house solicitor in almost 50 years to become president of the Law Society. In this episode, our host Tin Hei Lam, Media Officer at the KCL Pro Bono Society, speaks to Stephanie.
We begin by discussing the current state of the legal aid system and whether or not individuals have access to justice. Stephanie emphasises the need for public legal education in the UK. We conclude the episode by speaking about Stephanie’s experiences with mental health, Covid-19 lockdowns and her advice for students.
In our third episode, we investigate the legal, social and racial issues behind capital punishment in the United States of America. Your host Felix Mitchell, Treasurer of the KCL Pro Bono Society, is accompanied by Anna Draper, Training and Casework Coordinator at Amicus ALJ, and Anahita Roy, student ambassador for Amicus ALJ at King’s College London. We begin with the paradox at the heart of US constitutional law. How can they justify using the death penalty, when the Eighth Amendment outlaws “cruel and unusual punishments”? Current methods of execution are inhumane and follow many long, aimless years on death row. We discover that modern day cases are shadows of American history, reflecting social inequalities that are firmly embedded. Anahita and Anna conclude the episode by sharing how you can get involved in the fight against capital punishment.
In our second episode, we look at the role of legal technology and its impact on access to justice. Co-hosts Tin Hei Lam and Minali Ranasinghe are joined by Iliyana Futkova, Product Manager at Legatics and Emma Rehal-Wilde, a current lecturer at London South Bank University. We explore topics from what potential this new technology has in the charitable space, to how law and computer science are interconnected. With the growing use of tech in the work place, we explore some very important questions regarding the role of the solicitor, legal aid clinics and courtrooms arising from the Covid-19 era.
Lawyers and charities both have crucial roles to play in the fight against climate change. For our first episode, we were joined by Didem Sezgin, PhD student at the Climate Law and Governance Centre at King’s College London, and Catia Squarcia, Programme Manager at the educational charity ecoACTIVE. We explored the idea of ‘ecological integrity’, which breaks free from the traditional anthropocentric focus of the law, and how climate change undermines our universal rights. This raised an important question: what is more effective, top-down environmental policies or grassroots activism?