On Wednesday, 1st February Dean Strang, the US attorney from the Netflix documentary Making a Murderer, launched the
Bar of Ireland’s 2017 Innocence Scholarships.
Addressing a gathering of barristers in the Law Library on the subject of ‘How can you defend those people’, Mr Strang spoke about his experience of miscarriages of justice and emphasised the important role played by innocence organisations and the legal professionals who participate in them.
The Bar of Ireland provides innocence scholarships on an annual basis and this year five barristers will be sponsored to travel to the USA this year to assist innocence organisations. The successful recipients will travel to Cincinnati, Wisconsin and Florida at the end of May, and Duke and Washington at the beginning of August.
Paul McGarry SC, Chairman of The Council of The Bar of Ireland said; “We are delighted to welcome Mr Strang to The Bar of Ireland. Making a Murderer captured the hearts and minds of people right across the world, including here in Ireland. The popular documentary series shone a light on the absolute necessity of the work undertaken by innocences organisations and legal professionals in helping people to secure access to justice. This year, The Bar of Ireland will again provide support for five barristers to travel to the USA to work with five different innocence organisations. We know from previous years that scholarship recipients find the experience to be life changing.”
The innocence scholarships are part of a range of pro-bono activities that members of The Bar of Ireland take part in on a regular basis. The Voluntary Assistance Scheme (VAS) was established in 2004 and is the official pro bono scheme of The Bar of Ireland. Through its VAS, barristers provide free legal services to charities, NGOs and civic society groups such as MABS and Citizens Information.
Applications are now open. If you wish to participate please submit a CV and letter by email to communications@lawlibrary.ie outlining why you wish to be considered for the summer 2017 Scholarship.