Pro bono scheme picks up two awards
9 July 2026
The work of Cardiff University law students has been recognised with two prestigious awards.
The Fresh Claims Project, based at the School of Law and Politics, aims to provide a full casework service to refused asylum seekers in Cardiff who want to provide new or updated evidence to the Home Office.
Led by experienced immigration and asylum lawyer Jennifer Morgan and carried out in partnership with charity Asylum Justice, the scheme currently has a 100% success rate, helping cases that include a sexual violence survivor and her young child from Ghana, and a Palestinian man with health issues granted leave to remain in the UK.
At the LawWorks and Attorney General Student Pro Bono Awards, the project won New Pro Bono Activity category at a prestigious awards ceremony at the House of Lords. It also won Pro Bono Award at the recent Legal News Wales awards.
Final year law student Hemn Baghai, who has been involved with the project since the start of the academic year, said he had gained invaluable experience of the sector.
“I went through the asylum process when I first arrived in the UK 14 years ago”, he said. “Having gone through the system, it inspired me to do a degree in law. I hope to bring a new perspective to this sector.”
Working on this project has given me the chance to see how having access to justice can work in practice. Carefully considered legal work gives people a fair chance of being heard.
“I am glad to have had the chance to do this supervised training. I’m feeling positive about my future and say diolch to Wales and the university for making me feel so welcome.”
The project works holistically within the refugee sector to improve non-legal outcomes for clients on matters relating to housing, health and mental health.
Hemn and all the other students involved with this project should be proud with this double recognition of their work. We aim to help asylum seekers navigate the complexities of the UK legal system.
Jennifer Morgan, who leads the project said: “Students are able to get first-hand experience of casework, giving them invaluable skills for when they graduate. We hope this scheme will continue to grow and flourish.”
The school’s pro bono unit celebrated its 20th anniversary last year. More than 400 law students currently volunteer across a range of pro bono schemes which cover a variety of needs and sectors including miscarriages of justice and a law clinic set up to give legal advice to individuals on housing and some family matters. The Unit’s Innocence Project remains the only UK university scheme to have ever overturned convictions at the Court of Appeal (twice, in 2014 and in 2018).
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We provide students with the opportunity to help members of the community with legal matters, completely free of charge.
