Thank you for visiting my JustGiving page.

As you may already know, this May I will be leaving for New Orleans, where I'm set to volunteer for three months with the New Orleans Public Defenders Office (OPD), assisting public defenders undertaking juvenile life without parole cases (i.e. where children are sentenced to life in prison). Public defenders are appointed by the court to represent people who are accused of criminal acts and can't afford a lawyer to represent them. I hope to have a very hands-on experience helping with all aspects of this work - gathering evidence, building a defence, attending court and visiting clients in prison. It's an extremely exciting -albeit daunting!- opportunity and I can't wait to start.

Internships with Amicus are unpaid and I have the responsibility of bearing all of the costs of my time in the US, from my flights and visa to my accommodation and living costs while I'm there. I have been saving for months for this opportunity, but with my departure date rapidly approaching, I've decided the time has come for a final push for fundraising. On 17 April 2017 I will be cycling the length of Hadrian's Wall over four days on Hadrian's Cycleway, a Sustrans cycle route, to raise funds for my trip. With my good friend Josh for company/map reading assistance, we will journey from Ravenglass to South Shields along the 2,000 year old wall taking in rugged coastline, national parks and ancient battlegrounds. I would be very grateful if you could spare some change to speed me on my way- across Britain and then across the pond!

I am fortunate that my employers have granted me leave to take up this unique opportunity. Although the US has a very different legal system facing very different issues to those which we deal with in the UK, I am confident that my experience with Amicus will prove instructive for my practice in the UK, and inform my ongoing work as a lawyer, ensuring access to justice for all.