Centenary Challenge – Brick Court’s ongoing charitable commitment

17/01/23

In 2021, for chambers’ centenary, Brick Court committed to raising £250,000 for four chosen charities. The primary focus of the Centenary Challenge was social mobility, and our so our two primary charities were the Sutton Trust and IntoUniversity, two excellent charities doing exceptional work trying to improve and promote social mobility in our society, and trying to ensure that those young people who do not presently have access to higher education and the workplace are given an opportunity to have that access. Whilst the principal focus was deliberately wider than the legal profession, we were well aware that the need remained great within the legal sector too, and Brick Court also raised money for the Access to Justice Foundation and Advocate (formerly the Bar Pro Bono Unit). Over the course of 2021, Brick Court actually raised over £265,000 (over £312,000 with gift aid) for its centenary charities (and click here to read more about the year and the events that took place). The success of our initiative, both in and of itself and as a template for the Bar as a whole, was recognised with a nomination for Social Responsibility Initiative of the Year at the Bar Pro Bono Awards in 2022.

The commitment to our centenary charities was always intended to be an ongoing one. In the course of 2022, our members have continued to provide mentoring, and to speak at events and on panels for the Sutton Trust and IntoUniversity. As a chambers, we have continued to host events for, and students from, the Sutton Trust and IntoUniversity, including in the course of this year developing a new public speaking workshop for the Sutton Trust.

In addition, we have hosted our (now annual) dragonboat racing event (in July) and charity musical quiz (in November), using both events to raise money, both from within chambers and from our clients who participate in the events with us. Both events are firmly established in the diaries of the firms who have participated to date, and will no doubt be over-subscribed again this year. We are pleased to say that those events, combined with money raised from a World Cup Fantasy Football league, raised a total, in 2022, of £30,850 (£34,486.25 including gift aid) for our centenary charities.

We are delighted to continue to work with, and to raise funds for, our excellent charities, and we look forward to doing so in 2023.