Hannah Bussicott - Children's Legal Centre Manager
Hannah heads up the Children’s Legal Centre Wales and is funded by Swansea University School of Law.
Established in 2017, the CLC Wales is the only Children’s Legal Centre in Wales. Our focus is ensuring Welsh Legislation upholds and support children’s rights in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Our projects include but are not limited to Policy Advocacy and Strategic Litigation, Education and Engagement and Legal Services and future lawyer development, through the Justice First Fellowship Scheme.
Dr Rhian Croke - Policy Advocacy & Strategic Litigation Lead
Rhian leads our Strategic Litigation and Policy Advocacy Project funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.
Child rights strategic litigation (CRSL) – is defined by the Global Advancing Strategic Litigation Project (ACRSL) as: ‘litigation that seeks to bring about positive legal and social change in terms of children’s enjoyment of their rights, or in other terms, using the law strategically to achieve change for children.’
CRSL is increasingly used as a tool for realising children’s rights by different actors globally. The CLC Wales strengthens capacity for CRSL to promote the better realisation of children’s rights in Wales. We engage with lawyers and civil society to identify opportunities for policy and legislative reform and potential cases for CRSL.
Rhian Howells - Education and Engagement Lead
Rhian leads our Education and Engagement Project funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.
The aim of the Project is to develop a Wales-wide approach to young people’s (11-17 years) legal education on their human rights and the law as it affects them in Wales.
Initial consultation has been undertaken with children and young people and legal issues have been identified as topics for resources and child-friendly information development. These will be trialled in Autumn 2024. We look forward to sharing them with you.
Holly Bee - Children's Rights Justice First Fellow
Holly is our second Justice First Fellow which is a 2-year training contract funded by the Legal Education Foundation.
The aim of the Fellowship is to create social justice lawyers of the future, with Fellows going on to become leaders in their field and important advocates for access to justice and the rule of law.
Our Justice First Fellow has a specific focus on children’s rights and has been, or will be going on, placements with prominent law firms such as Watkins and Gunn and Cameron, Jones, Hussell and Howe, third sector advice projects such as KIN Cymru and the Children’s Commissioner for Wales.