Champions of Justice 2019
In 2019, Amicus held its inaugural, now annual, celebration of the law firms and individual volunteers who work with us to seek justice in the US death penalty system; we launched the Amicus Champions of Justice Awards and announced the first Award Winners at this event, recognising and honouring the outstanding contributions to justice made by individuals and legal teams that year.
This event also marked the launch of If I Should Die… A Death Row Correspondence by Jane Officer. This moving story chronicles Jane’s penfriend-letters with Andrew Lee Jones, executed in Louisiana in 1992 after a trial and sentencing phase which did not meet even basic internationally-recognised legal standards. Jane, together with Sophie Garner, founded Amicus in 1993 in Andrew’s name, after his appeal lawyer asked Jane to ‘send us lawyers’ to help support under-funded and under-resourced capital punishment defense lawyers.
See below for the 2024 Nominees, Winners (winners in bold), and the Awards Selection Panel.
Champions of Justice - Law Firm Category
Ashurst
Kingsley Napley
Linklaters
Andrew Lee Jones Award
Luke Varley
Champions of Justice - Individual Category
Paul Gill (Shearman & Stirling)
Julie Kidd (Pinsent Masons)
Awards Selection Panel
Professor Robin Maher (Chair), George Washington University, former Director of the ABA Death Penalty Representation Project and Amicus Patron
David Barnes, Chief Executive of Atkins Chambers and former Chair of the Institute of Barristers’ Clerks
David Bentley KC, Doughty Street Chambers
Professor Carolyn Hoyle, University of Oxford Centre for Criminology and former Centre Director
Leslie Thomas QC, Joint Head of Garden Court Chamber
