My Story

Bar v Bench race 

This year is the 20th anniversary of the London Legal Walk. To mark this milestone, members of the Bar and Judiciary are taking it one step further – 10km worth in fact.

Bar Council Chair Sam Townend KC and his team of barristers will go head-to-head with Mr Justice Constable and his team of judges. On the morning of Tuesday 18 June, the two teams will lace up their running shoes and race around the 10km route. The team that has the best average time will take home the glory. 

Last year’s London Legal Walk was the highest in terms of participation and money raised to support London Legal Support Trust (LLST) and the vital work of frontline free legal advice agencies. In total, 16,000 walkers took to the streets of London raising a staggering £940,000.

But on this commemorative year, we hope we do even better and raise more than £1million. 

The LLST was initiated in 2003 to help with the issue of insufficient funding and in the last two decades, by walking together for justice, it has raised more than £10million, helping hundreds of thousands access justice in the process. Unfortunately, funding directed towards legal aid and local authorities has reduced drastically and support is needed as much as it ever was.

Place your donations to back the Bar or the Bench and tell us who you’re supporting in your donation message.  

Thank you for supporting the Bar and the Bench teams – your donation is helping the most vulnerable in society access life-changing free legal advice.

Sam will also be leading the Bar Council’s walking team later in the day which you can support here.