Our Champions
Sir Andrew McFarlane
Sir Andrew McFarlane is the current President of the Family Division and Head of Family Justice. Before his appointment in 2018, he was a Lord Justice of Appeal in England and Wales from 2011-2018. Sir Andrew has stated the following on why he chose to be a Champion for LWC:
‘As President, I am particularly aware of the difficulties that young care leavers experience, I am therefore particularly keen to encourage those who wish to practice law by supporting LWC in its work.'
We are honoured at LWC to have Sir Andrew believe in us and champion care-experienced young people in legal careers.
More about Sir Andrew here.
Paul Bowen KC
Paul Bowen K.C. (Call, 1993; QC, 2012) is a barrister at Brick Court Chambers specialising in public law and human rights law acting for individuals, governments, NGOs and corporations. Paul is also a Deputy High Court judge (2021), where he sits in the Kings Bench Division, Administrative Court and Family Division; a Recorder of the Crown Court (2018); a member of the ‘A’ Panel of Counsel to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) (2015); and an Honorary Professor at the University of Sussex School of Law and Politics. In 2009 he was awarded ‘Advocate of the Year’ at the Law Society Excellence Awards, and in 2019 he was presented with the ‘Outstanding Achievement’ award at the Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year Awards.
“Care leavers have a unique lived experience that the law needs. But as the first member of my family to become a lawyer I know how inaccessible this world can seem. For a care leaver it may seem unattainable. Mentoring bridges the divide and benefits everyone.”
We are grateful to Paul for being a champion for care-experienced aspiring lawyers and helping us to see what we have to bring to the table.
More about Paul here.