Our Essay Question
Do we need legislative change to uphold the rights of care-experienced people?
How to Enter
Entries will open from 10am on 1st January 2026 and must be submitted no later than 4.00pm on 31st March 2026. Entries without the competition declaration will not be accepted.
Eligibility
The Lawyers Who Care definition of care-experience is a person who spent any period in care in England and Wales (foster care, kinship care, private foster care arrangement, supervision order, residential care or any residential placement provided by their local authority) before the age of 18. They would have had a regular social worker and received support from the local authority or children's social care/children’s services. Our definition extends to adoption.
1. You must be 18+.
2. The winners will be required to evidence that they are care-experienced (for example, a letter from a social worker/personal advisor or screenshot from a SAR).
3. You must have an interest in pursuing law (please note, you do not have to be undertaking a law degree or any degree, only that you have an interest in a legal career).
4. You must not have already secured pupillage or a training contract.
Requirements
1. Submissions should be no longer than 1,000 words, including footnotes. Essays that exceed this word limit will not be considered. They should be submitted as a word document with 1.5 spacing and font Arial, font size 12.
2. When submitting your essay, you will be required to include your name, contact information and a pseudonym. Please only include the pseudonym on the essay, do not include your name, contact details or any other identifying information in the essay itself. Essays are marked anonymously.
3. The essay must be the sole creation and original work of the entrant. Any form of plagiarism will result in automatic disqualification.
4. Alongside your submission, please complete and return the attached declaration.
5. Only one entry per person will be permitted.
6. The essay must not have been submitted to any other essay competition.
7. Essays will be judged anonymously, and the winner will be selected by our judging panel.
8. The winner will be selected and notified in April 2026 and announced no later than 31 May 2026.
9. The winning entries will be published on our website www.lawyerswhocare.org.
10. We will inform all entrants of whether they have been successful or unsuccessful. We will provide short feedback if requested.
11. All essays are to be submitted to info@lawyerswhocare.org alongside your signed declaration.
Meet Our Sponsors
We are so grateful to both Garden Court Chambers and Humphries Kerstetter for making the prizes in this competition possible.
Garden Court Chambers will also offer up to £350 in financial support to help cover loss of earnings, travel, subsistence and incidental expenses associated with the work experience or mini-pupillage.
Humphries Kerstetter will offer the first-place winner a five-day work placement spread over two weeks (Tuesday–Thursday in week one and Tuesday–Wednesday in week two, with dates to be agreed).
Humphries Kerstetter will also provide up to £400 in financial support to cover loss of earnings, travel, subsistence and incidental expenses during the placement.
Your Essay Judges
President of the Family Division
Co-Founder of Lawyers Who Care
In honour of Iris and David Freeman
Our essay competition has been made possible by the generosity of the David and Iris Freeman Trust, who have supported the “life-changing” work of Lawyers Who Care. The essay competition is dedicated to the late David and Iris Freeman who were committed to social mobility throughout their lifetimes. Leaving school at 16, David Freeman (1928-2015) found work in a high street solicitor’s office. Following post-war National Service in the army, he received a grant to study law. He founded his own law firm, DJ Freeman, when he was 24. The firm (today part of a giant American law firm) became a city powerhouse, specialising in financial, real estate and media law. David’s wife, Iris (1927-1997), head of employment law at the firm and formerly a child psychologist, wrote a well-known biography of Lord Denning, the great English judge. Throughout their lives the Freemans provided life-changing opportunities to many talented aspiring lawyers from non-affluent backgrounds, including the Deputy Prime minister.
A Huge Thank You To Our Sponsors
