Last year we partnered with Amal Clooney and the Clooney Foundation for Justice (CFJ) to offer our students the Amal Clooney Scholarship for Human Rights. The scholarship, designed for students with a burgeoning interest in human rights, helped several lucky winners fund their postgraduate education. Before applications open for 2025, we spoke to last year’s winners about their course, their essay submissions and their aspirations for the future.
By Editorial Team. Published 23 January 2025.
Mohammed Ali – full fee scholarship recipient
During my undergraduate degree I sought to navigate the plains of “The City” and break into the world of investment banking. Luckily, experience and self-reflection got in the way, as I soon realised a finance career was not for me. I considered the alternatives and, after a stint of legal shadowing working on criminal justice reform, I found myself interested in a career at the Bar. This motivated my study of the Postgraduate Diploma in Law (PGDL), as I hope to subsequently complete the Bar course and become a barrister.
I looked into funding opportunities available to incoming students and came across the Amal Clooney Scholarship. It caught my eye given Amal Clooney’s famed career as an international human rights barrister. I was motivated to apply by the current geopolitical climate. One day I hope to build on the impactful work carried out by the Clooney Foundation for Justice.
My essay explored the privacy, autonomy and censorship concerns arising from the development of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC). In the face of digital innovation, the Bank of England is exploring the provision of “Britcoin”, a digital form of public money for everyday payments of households and businesses. However, unlike physical cash, concerns have arisen around suggestions that Britcoin transactions will not be anonymous and may be programmable to include spending restrictions, triggers and limits. My interest in this topic developed through my participation in the cryptocurrency community, as the possibility of Britcoin directly challenges the ideals of decentralisation and financial freedom that cryptocurrency advocates uphold.
The scholarship process was rewarding, offering me the opportunity to think critically about contemporary issues I care about. It has not only eased the financial burden of my journey to the Bar but also serves as a mark of recognition for the future.
Anamika Ramkumar – partial scholarship recipient
I’m an aspiring barrister and have an interest in a variety of practice areas including human rights and immigration. I’m also involved in pro bono work alongside my Bar Practice Course (BPC) and I want to continue to make this part of my career.
Following a career at the Bar, I hope to become part of the Judiciary, perhaps at the Supreme Court, as my legal aspirations stem from a history lesson on the Supreme Court when I was 14 years old.
My essay, “How Alabama’s legislation prevents prisoners' access to the right to adequate food” arose when I was studying abroad. I was at the University of Alabama’s School of Law in an International Human Rights class, when the news of a scandal regarding prisoners’ welfare came up. I was so intrigued by how this all unfolded, being from a foreign jurisdiction, yet in the eyes of the law it was deemed okay.
The Amal Clooney Scholarship offered a unique opportunity to prove my legal skills and knowledge, especially after I had taken a year out after my undergraduate law degree. The application process tested a variety of legal skills, such as my application of legal knowledge, as well as legal research and written skills; all of which are important for a legal career.
Being awarded this scholarship serves as a constant reminder to keep persevering through the BPC so, one day, I too can offer a legal scholarship which bears my name.
Robert Steel-Browne – partial scholarship recipient
Before studying law I completed a history degree, during which I wrote my dissertation on the internment of Western civilians by Japanese forces during the Second World War. I have a personal connection to this subject, as my great-grandfather was one of those captives. Following the fall of Singapore in 1942, he experienced immense hardship in several prison camps in present day Indonesia, becoming one of only a handful of survivors. I ended up doing a lot of reading into the atrocities committed throughout the War - including some harrowing personal testimonies - and the difficulties faced by many survivors in achieving justice following the Axis surrender.
Around the same time, I decided to apply to study law as a second undergraduate degree. In the wake of my historical studies (and the way in which it had opened my mind to global affairs), I decided that, however my career panned out, I wanted to have a role in fighting injustice and combating abuses committed by states and governments against ordinary people.
After my law degree, I completed a mini pupillage during which I met a barrister from 187 Chambers who took me under his wing. He kindly let me shadow him on a couple of criminal cases and I found myself absolutely hooked. Watching the trial process told me that the Bar was the career for me. I'm hoping to get pupillage as soon as possible after graduating, with the aim of eventually focusing on criminal and/or human rights law.
My essay, “Capital punishment by proxy: is citizenship deprivation compatible with the UK's Article 2 obligations?” is about the power of the UK Government under the British Nationality Act 1981 to deprive British nationals of their citizenship if deemed conducive to the public good. As most people impacted by this legislation are dual nationals, many of whom have come from jurisdictions with poor human rights records, it occurred to me a logical consequence of this law is that affected persons may be deported to countries where their ECHR rights were under threat. I’m concerned affected people may be sent to countries in which they would face the death penalty, despite this being protected by the European Convention on Human Rights.
The submission was inspired by the high profile case of Shamima Begum. In 2015, Begum (a London schoolgirl of Bangladeshi heritage) left the UK to join ISIS. In 2019, she was found in a Syrian refugee camp and appealed to the British government to bring her home. Despite Begum not having dual Bangladeshi citizenship, the then Home Secretary Sajid Javid revoked her citizenship, on the basis she could acquire Bangladeshi citizenship. At the time, the Bangladeshi government expressly declared that Begum would almost certainly be executed for her crimes in Bangladesh.
Initially, I had been of the knee-jerk view that Begum's actions were self-inflicted. But as I started to investigate the case with a more critical eye, I found myself becoming more concerned with the UK Government's actions. It seemed to me, alongside appealing to populist media outcry, the Home Office was willingly exposing Begum to the risk of execution. With the abolition of capital punishment in the UK, we tacitly accept that death is a disproportionate response to any offence, no matter how serious - yet the UK Government seemed perfectly willing to 'outsource' this to Bangladesh in Begum's case.
I wanted to examine cases of 'public good' citizenship deprivation, examining whether Begum was an outlier or potentially part of a wider circumvention of Convention rights. I suggested examining the 'alternative nationalities' of offenders deprived of their British citizenship, alongside the offences for which they were convicted, to see if this risk was widespread. Given that many of those affected had been convicted of terror offences, the prospect seemed plausible.
I wanted to highlight that the 'non-derogable' right to life in Article 2 is still at risk of being circumvented. For human rights to be upheld, they must be applicable to all. I wanted this to be the first step in a wider effort to plug the gaps in British citizenship law, ideally with built-in protections in the British Nationality Act to prevent 'de-facto deportation' to jurisdictions with the death penalty. It seeks to mitigate the risk of an unscrupulous executive circumventing fundamental human rights law and outsourcing the 'dirty work' to other governments.
When I found the Amal Clooney Scholarship it seemed perfect for me and my career plans. As soon as I saw it, I went straight onto the preliminary test. As Wayne Gretzky said – you miss 100% of the shots you don't take. As soon as I found out there was a scholarship dedicated to human rights law (let alone one as generous as the Amal Clooney Scholarship), I knew it was too good an opportunity to miss. When I got the email confirming I was successful, I was ecstatic. I hope I can use this as a stepping stone to get into human rights law after I qualify.
Discover our range of scholarships and bursaries and find out how to apply today.