Tanya Murshed, of 1MCB Chambers, has won this year’s Sydney Elland Goldsmith Bar Pro Bono Award for her commitment to assisting vulnerable individuals convicted of capital offences in Uganda. Murshed began by assisting the Centre for Capital Punishment Studies, writing submissions for about 60 prisoners potentially facing the death penalty, and later focused on the landmark Supreme Court case of Susan Kigula and 417 others, which held that the automatic death sentence was unconstitutional. She launched a charity, Evolve, and spends a quarter of her year on pro bono work.
Kirsty Brimelow QC, Chair of the Bar Human Rights Committee, received a special commendation.