Lord Kerr

Organised by the Human Rights Lawyers Association (HRLA) young lawyers’ committee, the competition invites essays on the question: “Is eco-anxiety capable of amounting to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, within the meaning of Article 3 ECHR?”

The winner will receive a £300 cash prize and have their essay published on the UK Supreme Court Blog. They will also receive a free annual associate membership to the HRLA, a copy of The Judicial Mind and a signed copy of The Unity of Law.

Two runners-up will receive £100 each, have their essay published with a photo and short biography on the HRLA website, receive a free annual associate membership and receive full written feedback on their essay.

The competition is open to university undergraduates or graduates; law undergraduates or graduates; GDL students or graduates; or Master’s, BPTC and LPC students. It is not open to those offered pupillage, law apprenticeships, legal traineeships or training contracts.

The HRLA launched the competition following a gift donation from Lord Kerr’s family, intended to “create an opportunity that celebrates the formidable legal career that Lord Kerr had through his influential judicial understanding of human rights and the law”.

Lord Kerr, a graduate of Queen’s University Belfast, called to the Bar in 1970 and became a QC in 1983. Ten years later, he was appointed as a High Court judge at the age of 44. He served as Lord Chief Justice from 2004 until his appointment to the House of Lords as the last Lord of Appeal in Ordinary in 2009, later becoming one of the first justices of the UK Supreme Court.

He passed away at the age of 72 in December 2020, just two months after his retirement from the bench.

More information about the competition is available from the HRLA website.