At an award ceremony held at Strathclyde Police’s Pitt Street HQ last night, Professor Donald Nicolson won the Evening Times Community Champion Public Service Individual Award for the Glasgow Central & West region.
The awards, run by the Evening Times, celebrate the work of individuals and teams across Glasgow who are making a difference to the local community. Professor Nicolson was nominated for his work promoting pro bono legal services within the University of Strathclyde and the wider legal profession.
He founded the Law Clinic at the University of Strathclyde in 2003, and has been the Clinic Director for the past seven years. In that time he has helped to motivate hundreds of students to take on hundreds of cases and fight for some of the most vulnerable individuals across Glasgow. He has overseen the expansion of the Law Clinic from a small group of 20 students, to over 200 students providing legal advice and representation today, and ensured the funding is in place to employ staff and solicitors to support the students’ work.
Professor Nicolson has also worked to promote pro bono within the Scottish legal profession, regularly speaking on the opportunities for solicitors at several conferences throughout the UK. More recently, he has been part of the steering committee to setup LawWorks Scotland, an organisation designed to promote and co-ordinate pro bono projects within Scotland.
Speaking after the event, Professor Nicolson said “While it is a great honour to receive this award, the award should really go to all of the students and staff involved in the Law Clinic, who work tirelessly every year working on behalf of nearly 200 clients to provide them with the legal advice and representation they otherwise wouldn’t receive”.