In 2023, we resumed holding an in-person Champions of Justice Awards event which included entertainment, champagne and a three-course dinner.  We also introduced a new category, ‘academic team’, so there were nominations for individuals, law firms and academic teams who had gone above and beyond in the name of justice – in addition to the annual Andrew Lee Jones Award which recognises exceptional and extended commitment to the fight for justice on death row.  And, we launched the Mark George KC Access to Justice Bursary.

Nominees and Winners

*winners in bold

Champions of Justice - Law Firm Category

Arthur Cox

CS Disco

Kingsley Napley

Milbank

Linklaters

Reed Smith

Champions of Justice - Academic Team Category

The City Law School

University of Law

Southampton University

Champions of Justice - Individual Category

Sherif Azer (Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms)

Daniel Leng (Metro Capital Defenders)

Pan Papakyprianou (Linklaters)

Amina Flynn and Eleanor Healy-Birt (Slaughter and May)

Andrew Lee Jones Award
Maddie Steele

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

Amicus’ 2022 Champions of Justice Awards event also was held online.  In addition to announcing the Award Winners, we had three keynote speakers; mitigation specialist, Christy Dickerson, capital defence attorney, Shayla Galloway, and death row exoneree, Herman Lindsey.  These ‘Voices of Justice’ shared their diverse experiences of the US capital punishment system.

Nominees and Winners

*winners in bold

Champions of Justice - Law Firm Category

Allen & Overy 

BCLP

Dentons

Kingsley Napley

Linklaters

Milbank

Reed Smith

Withers

Champions of Justice - Individual Category

Gabrielle Darden (Regional Conflict Counsel Region 1)

Stas Kuzmierkiewicz (Baker McKenzie)

Olivia Loxley (Linklaters LLP)

Andrew Lee Jones Award
Rebecca Greenhalgh

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

In 2021, we hosted a virtual event where we looked at the future of Racial Justice and The Death Penalty, while celebrating Amicus’ Champions of Justice Awards, recognising the amazing work which our supporters and affiliate firms have contributed to.  The discussion focused on Henderson Hill, a leading figure in the defence of civil rights today and senior attorney at ACLU, in conversation with Robin Maher, internationally renowned death penalty expert and the former Director of The American Bar Association (ABA) Death Penalty Representation Project.

Nominees and Winners

*winners in bold

Champions of Justice - Law Firm Category

Arthur Cox

BCLP

Dentons

Milbank

Morgan Lewis

Shearman & Sterling

Champions of Justice - Individual Category

Claire Butler (Simmons & Simmons)

Maddie Steele (Unity Street Chambers)

Shelagh Kenney (Center for Death Penalty Litigation (CDPL))

Andrew Lee Jones Award
Tim Peterson

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 QC

Doughty Street Chambers

Leslie Thomas QC

Garden Court Chambers​​​​​​

In addition to announcing that year’s Champions of Justice, Amicus’ 2020 online event marked the release of Bobby Moore earlier that year after four decades on Texas Death Row.  40 Years To Freedom highlighted the nature of the work of our lawyers and volunteers with an exciting live panel, whose members presented their deeply personal and legal stories spanning 30 years of fighting for justice through the courts, up to the Supreme Court of the United States (twice). Supported by many teams of dedicated pro bono lawyers over the years, the panel discussed what this seminal case meant to the people involved on the frontline and to Bobby himself. Not only was Bobby’s life saved and he was finally released, but the case, and the fight, created an instrumental change for those with an intellectual disability facing a death sentence in the US.

Nominees and Winners

*winners in bold

Champions of Justice - Law Firm Category

Arthur Cox

Eversheds Sutherland LLP

Milbank

Champions of Justice - Individual Category

Linzi McDonald

Harrison Jowett

Poppy Mulligan

Andrew Lee Jones Award
Linzi McDonald

Awards Selection Panel & Event Speakers

Bobby Moore

His case is the current leading Supreme Court of the United States ruling, saving many people facing the death penalty. Attendees heard from the man behind the case, who spent 40 years on death row. He spoke live from Texas as a free man.

Cliff Sloan

The leading expert, famous for his constitutional and Supreme Court of the United States work who also represented Bobby Moore, author, attorney and passionate pro bono champion talked to us about what it meant to work on Bobby's case.

Joanne Cross

Took over supporting Bobby after her mother, Bobby's penfriend, died. Fighting for Bobby her whole professional life, pushing his case forward, she talked about the personal journey and their friendship.

Luke Varley

When he was sent by Amicus to Texas in 2011, fresh out of law school, Luke would not have believed he would be representing that same death row inmate in the Supreme Court of the United States almost a decade later. Luke shared his amazing Amicus journey.

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.

Nominees and Winners

*winners in bold

Champions of Justice - Law Firm Category

Ashurst

Kingsley Napley

Linklaters

Champions of Justice - Individual Category

Paul Gill (Shearman & Stirling)

Julie Kidd (Pinsent Masons)

Andrew Lee Jones Award
Luke Varley

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 QC

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