Catherine Davies, Employability & Skills Development Lecturer at the City Law School, gives a quick rundown on one of the year’s highlights: the London Legal Walk, where the law community comes together to raise money in a massive scale.
On the 9th June a team of staff and students from the City Law School came together for a 10km walk through London to raise money for the London Legal Support Trust. Alongside 19,500 others we helped to raise an incredible £1 million to fund vital access to front line legal advice services.
Access to Justice is a vital part of any functioning society, and charities like the London Legal Support Trust help ensure that no one is excluded from getting the support they need due to their financial situation. Founded in 2003, they have supported some of the most vulnerable groups in our city through austerity, LASPO, the Covid-19 pandemic and, most recently, the cost of living crisis. It is with this in mind that legal world comes together to fundraise each year.
There were three walk routes available on the day. As a team, we decided to take the Park Route, which, unsurprisingly, took us through three iconic London parks. Our first stop was the Law Society building to register our attendance, take the team photo and collect our maps. The crowd was huge and there was an atmosphere reminiscent of a school sports day. From that point, we walked along the river past Embankment, then through Whitehall into St James Park. Once in the first park, we stopped to have a look at the pelicans and more standard UK wildfowl (ducks, geese, coots and their very cute babies) that have made the park their home.
The weather, thankfully, held up beautifully despite the persistent threats of rain the day prior. After St James’ Park our stroll took us past Buckingham Palace where we briefly paused to debate whether or not the King was in the building. I like to think he was watching the walk go by.
After that we walked through Green Park, where some kind volunteers were handing out bottles of water. Alongside the water stations, the path was made clear to us by some very helpful foam fingers pointing the crowd in the right direction. The sense of camaraderie was palpable right the way around the route as people from law firms, charities and universities came together with varying degrees of physical fitness to walk towards a good cause. Some people decided to up the challenge and run all or part of the route. A very big well done to those people!
After Green Park came Hyde Park, the final park on the route. This marked our halfway point, and with that we turned around to head back to the Law Society building for our celebration street party! Everyone came together to enjoy a massive sense of achievement, joined by stilt walkers, steel drum players and various food and drink vendors.
Will you be joining us next year? Keep an eye on our emails for details on how to sign up for the 2027 event. If walking is not your thing, you can always sponsor the team and contribute that way. A huge thank you to everyone who has donated so far, and we hope to see you on the next walk!