Law Reform Essay Competition
The Bar Council's Law Reform Essay Competition is aimed at developing and fostering an interest in law reform. The competition invites entrants to submit a 3,000 word essay making the case for a reform to English, Welsh or European law.
2022 Law Reform Essay Competition
The 2022 Law Reform Essay Competition will be opening soon. We will update this page with further information on how to apply when the competition is launched.
Further information about previous essay competitions can be seen below.
2021 Law Reform Essay Competition winners
Joseph Lord: 'The War is Lost: A Proposal for Drug Consumption Rooms in the UK'
Read Joseph's blog
Runner up
Armin Amirsolimani: ‘I owe my soul to the graduate recruitment team – Rethinking penalty clauses in employment contracts’
Best CPE/GDL entry
Annika Weis: ‘Licence to Sanction – Stopping Environmental Crimes through UK Magnitsky Legislation’
Highly commended
Samuel Page: ‘The Corporate Climate Conscience Act (202X) – filling the regulatory lacuna undermining Britain’s path to net zero’
Find out more
Find out more about the competition by watching the Law Reform Essay Competition video.
Prizes
This annual competition is sponsored by the Bar Council Scholarships Trust and coordinated by the Bar Council. It offers prizes in the following categories:
- £4,000 for the winner
- £2,500 for the runner up
- £1,500 for the best CPE/GDL entry
- £1,000 for the runner up CPE/GDL entry
- 2 x £500 highly commended award
We hope that the prize money will be used to contribute to the legal education or legal career of the prize winners.
Who can apply?
The competition is open to anyone undertaking the academic or vocational stage of training for the Bar (including those studying for a law degree, GDL or the vocational component), those currently seeking or completing pupillage, and those in the process of transferring to the Bar.
Details of the 2022 competition will be published here when available.
Previous winners
2020
2019
Winner: Penny Tridimas - "The Long and the Short of It: Introducing a Summary Procedure for the Dismissal of Unmeritorious Claims in the Arbitration Act 1996"
Read Penny's blog
Runner-up: Zohra Nabi - "The SLAPPback starts now: Why legislation must be introduced to prevent the abuse of the law of defamation"
Best CPE/GDL: Benjamin Williams - "With (McKenzie) Friends Like These: Prohibiting Fee Recovery by McKenzie Friends"
Runner-up CPE/GDL: Katherine Boucher - "Redressing the Balance: The Case for the Reform of Trustee Liability in Transactions with Third Parties"
Highly commended: Rich Hodges - "In the best interest of the child? Prosecutions brought against Children under the Sexual Offences Act 2003"
Winner: Josephine Teale - "Myths, Misconceptions and #MeToo: Expert Evidence in Historic Sexual Offence Trials"
Runner-up: Amy Woolfson - "Not a silver bullet... but a bullet nonetheless: Ending the ban on the use of intercept material in criminal proceedings"
Best CPE/GDL: Lucy McCann - "A case for extending the Freedom of Information Act (2000) to private companies delivering public services through government contracts"
Runner-up CPE/GDL: Edward Mordaunt - "Quamdiu bene se gesserint: Reforming The Judicial Pensions and Retirement Act 1993"
Highly commended: Katie Ratcliffe - "Who wants to live forever?' Determining the future of online social accounts in intestacy"
Highly commended: Christopher Eames - "Taxing Tech: Bringing Permanent Establishment into the 21st Century"
Winner: Ian McDonald - "One rule for all: An end to the Abouloff double standard on fraud and foreign judgments"
Runner-up: Mark Ong - "Connecting mental disorders to physical ones: an autonomy-centric reform of nonconsensual treatment under S63 of the Mental Health Act 1983"
Best CPE/GDL: Clarissa Wigoder - "Spare the rod: Why the law on corporal punishment needs to be reformed"
Runner up CPE/GDL: Daniel Fox - "I hate being idle: Asylum seekers and the right to work"
Highly commended: Katherine Wright - "When clinical becomes criminal: Reforming medical manslaughter"
Highly commended: Sophie Smith-Holland - "It's not you...and it's not me, either: The case for no-fault divorce in England and Wales"
Winner: Samuel Linehan - "Putting the wheels back on: a better approach to compensation for miscarriages of justice"
Runner-up: Jake Richards - "The Law of Surrogacy: 'a ticking legal time-bomb'"
Best CPE/GDL: Phoebe Whitlock - "Rivalling Silicon Valley: The Case for the Reform of the Software Patents"
Runner up CPE/GDL: Kajetan Wandowicz - "Pay more or leave the barber's with your hair half-cut: why Williams v Roffey Bros should be reversed by Parliament"
Highly commended: Amelia Highnam - "I do, I don't or a happy medium: Extending the reach of civil partnerships to opposite-sex couples"
Highly commended: Elizabeth Anderson - "Single Parents and Surrogacy"
Winner: Emma Fitzsimons - "Rage Against the Machines: Post-strike scrutiny for targeted killings"
Runner-up: Lewis Hadler - "What's Wrong With Adultery? An argument to modernise the definition of adultery in divorce law"
Best CPE/GDL: Alex du Sautoy - "Electorally Challenged: Protecting Democracy through the Creation of a Public Petitioner"
Runner up CPE/GDL: Hannah Daly - "Innocent until proven guilty? Sexual offences and the anonymity of defendants"
Highly commended: Edward Dean - "Realising Education and Training 2020: a European Student Loan Repayment Facility"
Highly commended: Michal Hain - "Death as a Choice: in defence of assisted suicide"
