Lorna Williamson has been chosen as the recipient of the Eric McGraw award for her work on wrongful convictions undertaken while studying at the School of Law.
The Award, commonly known as ‘The Eric’, is given to a student who has been judged to have made an outstanding contribution to the cause of wrongful convictions.
During her time at Swansea, Lorna volunteered for the university-led Miscarriage of Justice Project, which reviews cases where all other appeals processes have been exhausted, but there is potentially some doubt over the safety of these convictions.
The Award is presented by Inside Justice, which refers potential cases to the Miscarriage of Justice Project at Swansea, which means Lorna was in competition with students from across the UK.
The citation for Lorna’s Award read as follows:
The three panel members considered carefully all the excellent nominations for the 2022 ERIC award and independently reached the same conclusion that the award should go to Lorna Williamson, a student at Swansea University. Overall, her enthusiasm, commitment, research and analytical skills made her stand out over and above the other nominations.
Speaking on Lorna’s achievement, Professor Richard Owen, Director of the Swansea Law Clinic and Miscarriage of Project lead, said:
“This is fantastic and well-deserved recognition for Lorna. Her work on the Miscarriage of Justice Project was dazzling, the best I have ever seen.”
On her award win, Lorna had the following to say:
“It was an absolute honour to hear I would be the first person to receive this award! Thank you to Richard and Eve for all their support in the Law Clinic. Pro-bono advice is an integral part in allowing justice to be accessible for all members of the community regardless of economic status. I hope that the Clinic will be able to expand further and be able to help more citizens in need in the future.”
After receiving the award, Lorna also graciously decided to donate the prize money to Swansea Law Clinic, in order to further the cause of providing access to justice.