Upcoming Events:
Please see below for our upcoming events to get involved in. Please note that all events are free for our mentors, mentorship organisations and our care-experienced mentees. Otherwise, tickets can be bought by way of donation to support the ongoing "life-changing" work we do.
18th May 2026
5:30 - 7pm
Join Lawyers Who Care and the Foundling Museum for a special evening celebrating the two-year anniversary of Lawyers Who Care and the announcement of the 2026 David and Iris Freeman Essay Competition winner.
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The essay competition, supported by the Iris and David Freeman Charitable Trust, was created to encourage care-experienced aspiring lawyers to engage with issues affecting their community and to open doors to the legal profession. This year’s essay question asks: “Do we need legislative change to uphold the rights of care-experienced people?”
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Taking place from 5:30–7:00pm, the evening will bring together our wonderful community to celebrate two years of progress and to recognise all participants of this year’s competition. We are honoured that our essay judging panel will be present, including Sir Andrew McFarlane, President of the Family Division.
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We are so proud to have partnered with The Foundling Museum to run this event. The Foundling Museum is the only cultural institution in the UK to celebrate people who have been in care and all those who care for them. It explores the history and experiences of children in care through art, history and advocacy. We are incredibly grateful for the support of the museum and its CEO, Emma Ridgeway, who has supported Lawyers Who Care from the very beginning. We are proud to host this event in such a meaningful space and look forward to continuing our partnership in the years ahead.
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Past Events:
23rd April ARU Cambridge
1-2:30pm (remote)
4th April 2025 1-5pm ARU Chelmsford (in-person)
26th March 2025
6-7:30pm (Remote)
26th February 2025 6-7:30pm
Join our CEO and Co-Founder Lucy Barnes as she delivers a webinar in partnership with ARU Law Society Cambridge titled 'From Foster Care to Lawyers Who Care: Harnessing the strengths of adversity and overcoming the challenges'
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To attend please contact arulawsocietycambridge@outlook.com - FREE
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Join our CEO and Co-Founder Lucy Barnes in her 2025 keynote address titled 'Lawyers as a voice with the vulnerable: how to champion vulnerable people inside and outside of court' at the 2025 ARU Chelmsford Symposium on 'Lawyers as a voice for the vulnerable.'
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Lucy will be joined by a fantastic line-up of speakers including Dr Laura Janes, Karen Dovaston and Julie Moktadir. There will be networking drinks after. The Symposium poster can be viewed here.
Tickets can be purchased for £5 on Eventbrite here. FREE for mentors and mentees (email gemma@lawyerswhocare.org)
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Join us for our next Webinar 'How to Have difficult conversations' with Alex Conroy, Professional Coach for Lawyers. Eventbrite link here. Hosted by our fantastic Deputy CEO Gemma Creamer.
FREE for all mentors/mentorship organisations and care-experienced people, £15 donation for all others. Event bio below:
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Join us for an insightful workshop exploring how to handle tough conversations, giving feedback, delivering bad news and encouraging accountability. Alex Conroy will guide you through an interactive session building your confidence, trust and influence when having difficult conversations.
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Join us for our next Webinar 'Unaccompanied Asylum-seeking Children: Understanding their Journey' with Jo Schofield, independent consultant specialising in immigration and asylum social work and Becky Cutler-Methven, associate solicitor. Eventbrite link here. Hosted by our fantastic volunteer Amber Knowles and Deputy CEO Gemma Creamer.
FREE for all mentors/mentorship organisations and care-experienced people, £15 donation for all others. Event bio below:
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Join us for an insightful webinar that explores the unique challenges faced by unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASCs) and the support systems in place to help them navigate their journey. This session is designed for legal professionals, social workers, educators, and advocates working with vulnerable children and young people. We will delve into critical topics, including:
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Trafficking and UASCs: Recognizing indicators of trafficking, understanding legal definitions, the complexities of criminal prosecutions, and addressing issues such as unlawful detention, the risks of hotel accommodation, and missing persons cases.
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Mental Health Support: Exploring access to GP services, entitlements, and the role of charities in addressing mental health challenges. We'll discuss key problems and highlight support options like Off the Record counselling services.
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Rights and Entitlements Legislation: An overview of crucial legal frameworks such as Section 20 and Section 17 of the Children Act, kinship agreements, foster care arrangements, and case studies like those involving the South London Refugee Association (SLRA). We’ll also cover Red Cross tracing services for family reunification.
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27th February 2025 6-7pm
Join our CEO and Co-Founder Lucy Barnes in her 2025 University of Surrey Athena Swan lecture titled 'Addressing an "invisible inequality": Care experience as a civil rights movement' where she will, for the first time, share her thesis on how we can collectively utilise the law and activism to bring about meaningful change for care-experienced people. The talk will be from 6-7 at the University of Surrey Law School on 27th February 2025.
10th March 2025 9:30 am-2pm
Our CEO and Co-Founder Lucy Barnes is a keynote speaker at a NAGALRO Spring 2025 conference titled 'Neurodivergent Children: The cost of failing to recognise and respond to the challenges and barriers these children face in the Family Justice System.' Lucy will be speaking on 'Foster care, adverse childhood experiences (ACE’s) and Neurodivergence' on 10th March 9:30am-2pm. Fill out an application to attend here. ​
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Speakers and presentation titles:
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Dr Tom Grange (Psychologist, PsychD, HCPC - Clin. Psych, & Director of Dr Grange & Associates): ‘Different forms of neurodivergence in children and means of identification’
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Lucy Barnes (Pupil Barrister and Co-Founder/CEO of Lawyers Who Care - care experienced and neurodivergent lawyer): Foster care, adverse childhood experiences (ACE’s) and Neurodivergence.
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Ravi Kaur Mahey (Director and Children Panel Member at Cartwright King Solicitors, neurodivergent lawyer and parent of a neurodivergent child): Needs not Diagnosis - How to identify, recognise and better understand neurodivergence and what we can do to secure better outcomes for children and adults in the social work and legal system.
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Sarah Langley (Chair of Cafcass Neurodiversity Network): title TBC
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Dr Harbrinder Dhillon-Stevens: Understanding neurodivergent children in the social work, clinical and family justice system: What does good practice look like? How race and culture can feed into under recognition and underdiagnosis of neurodivergence in black children.
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Full panel discussion focusing on good practice around neurodivergence for social workers in the family justice system.
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14th February 2025:
Care-experienced apprenticeships event with Lawyers Who Care and Stevenson Harwood LLP: Care-experienced aspiring solicitors and legal apprenticeships event. Interested in a legal career as a solicitor? Join our Deputy CEO Gemma Creamer and solicitor Joanna Hughes at their next event. Hear from Gemma herself as well as Chris Wild, care-experienced best-selling author of 'The State of It' and 'Damaged.'
Open to all care-experienced people.
20th December 2024 6-9pm:
Lawyers Who Care Christmas Party.
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Our first Christmas party! A huge part of what we do is bringing mentors and mentees together to celebrate care-experienced potential. As we are led by care experience, we know personally how hard Christmas can be, so we want to make it exciting for you and host an inclusive networking event where we can all come together as a community. A huge part of what we do is bringing mentors and mentees together to celebrate care-experienced potential.
EXCLUSIVE performances by care-experienced artists Ric Flo and LOUNAH.
Special guest speakers include:
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Lucy Barnes, our CEO and Co-Founder and pupil barrister at East Anglian Chambers.
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Ms Justice Henke, High Court Judge and LWC Advisory Board member.
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Stefanie Brown, Care-experienced solicitor at AB Foods
25th Sept 2024
Webinar: How can we help children and young people communicate in legal proceedings?​
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This event is dedicated to raising awareness and understanding of:
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How to spot your client might have communication challenges
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A high level understanding of the 3 key areas of communication
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Some simple techniques to add to your toolkit
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What support is available and how to access it
This webinar will provide you with valuable knowledge and practical advice.
We will delve into:
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The list of vulnerabilities as defined by the MoJ
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What support is available to children, young people (and also adults with communication needs)
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How to identify a young person might need communication support
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What to look out for!
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Share some basic techniques to support communication
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Intro to the 3 key areas of communication
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What services are available and how to access them
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HMCTS Approved Intermediary framework (brief overview of the service and what its’ for)
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Assessments – purpose and what is covered (foundations, receptive communication, expressive communication)
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Assistance at court – what is everyone’s role to ensure effective communication (intermediary role / counsels role)
29th August 2024
Webinar: Safeguarding and Local Authorities' Duties towards care-experienced people. ​
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Dr. Laura Janes will delve into:
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The legal definitions of care leavers and qualifying children.
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Landmark ages when rights and entitlements shift.
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Strategies to challenge inadequate support from local authorities.
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The intersection of care leavers' rights with other legal duties (e.g., adult social care, housing, mental health).
Jonny Hoyle will explore:
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The distinctions between Care Experience and Care Leavers.
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The practical challenges faced by those lacking traditional family networks and how this impacts access to opportunities.
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The realities of Leaving Care Services and how they are implemented.
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Pathway Plans, local offers, and the difference between transactional and relational services, with a focus on young people qualifying for assistance.
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Practical advice on advocating for needed support and insights into the care leaver apprenticeship bursary uplift.
15th August 2024
Webinar: 'Ethical Ways of Sharing your Care Experience Story and Avoiding Trauma mining.
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Event details:​
As a care-experienced-led organisation, we know first-hand the difficulties and vulnerability involved in sharing your story, particularly in a world where care experience is deeply stigmatised. All three of our guest speakers, however, speak proudly of their care experience but in a way that protects the parts of their story that are private to them.
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As experienced journalists and writers, Rebekah and Sophia will also discuss the issues surrounding 'trauma-mining' in the media and how to have boundaries around being the person who gets to share your story. Lucy will then discuss how to speak about care experience on a legal application, as she did so proudly when she was awarded an Inn of Court scholarship and pupillage.
There will also be a Q&A to be able to ask any burning questions you may have.
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Ultimately, your story is yours. It is up to you how you tell it. This evening Webinar will, however, embed you with some tools to be able to equip you to feel more confident about it.
11th and 25th July 2024
Lawyers Who Care, Care Aware & Trauma-Informed Training for mentors.
Event details:​
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Described as "some of the best training I have ever received" by an anonymous barrister mentor, Lawyers Who Care's training to nearly 30 barrister and solicitor mentors at Burges Salmon LLP did not disappoint. A full blog on the training can be read here.