Westminster Legal Advice Clinic’s one-of-a-kind initiative supporting LGBTQI+ asylum seekers nominated for major award

LEAP is a collaboration between the University of Westminster Legal Advice Clinic, LGBTQI+ charity Rainbow Migration (RM) and Wilson Solicitors LLP. It was launched in September 2025 in response to an access-to-justice crisis affecting LGBTQI+ people seeking asylum in the UK. The project began with the ambition to create a sustainable blueprint for specialist, trauma-informed, student-led pro bono collaboration that increases access to justice for LGBTQI+ people seeking asylum, while strengthening the future legal aid workforce.

Since then, 11 student volunteers have been trained and supervised by an IAA Level 3 Asylum accredited Senior LEAP Caseworker. Students are trained in recognising signs of trauma, setting professional boundaries and sustaining themselves in emotionally demanding work. By modelling sustainable trauma-informed practice, LEAP invests in the long-term resilience of the future legal workforce.

Each student works with a single client across the academic year to undertake supervised casework, prioritising depth over volume. Students develop ownership of cases, while clients experience continuity and trust. To date, 11 unrepresented LGBTQI+ asylum seekers have been supported and eight clients are receiving ongoing intensive casework support.

A strength of LEAP is the presence of ‘experts by experience’. Of the 11 volunteer student caseworkers, one is an LGBTQI+ refugee, five have direct personal experience of the UK immigration system and four identify as members of the LGBTQI+ community. This lived experience is a valuable perspective that enhances cultural competence and client trust, while being carefully supported through structured supervision and safeguarding. The project demonstrates that professional supervision and lived experience can work together ethically and intentionally to strengthen pro bono practice.

The University of Westminster Legal Advice Clinic and the wider University's commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion is reflected both in this project and the clinic’s other collaborative partnership, The Windrush Justice Clinic, which also won the Best New Pro Bono Activity Award in 2022. The University of Westminster actively encourages students and colleagues to contribute to their communities through their innovation, enterprise and problem-solving, seeking to make the world a more sustainable, healthier and better place.

About the nomination project founder and Westminster Legal Practice Course LLM alumnus Karen Doyle said: “As a former Westminster student and colleague at the Legal Advice Clinic, I believe deeply in the importance of clinical legal education. Nothing can replicate the experience that students get working directly with clients and seeing the impact of that work.  

“The LEAP clinic was a labour of love for me, bringing together my passion for exposing Law students to the deeply rewarding social justice sector, while also providing a desperately needed service to LGBTQI+ people seeking asylum. I have also brought my focus and commitment to the importance of bringing people into the sector with relevant lived experience. It’s the only project of its kind in the UK, and I am proud of what we have achieved together in a short space of time.”

Anna Steiner, Westminster Senior Lecturer in Law, added: “I am delighted that LEAP has been shortlisted for this award. LEAP represents what the University of Westminster Legal Advice Clinic is for: it provides a learning space where our law students can develop and grow in a supportive and safe environment; a Legal Advice Clinic that replicates a Law Centre providing advice and representation to those members of the public who need it most in a strategic, innovative and impactful way; a space where students can work on projects that are meaningful to them personally and to Westminster as a whole.  

“As a solicitor from a legal aid and Law Centre background, who started her career doing asylum work, I know just how important this project is. I am grateful to Karen Doyle for all of the hard work, passion, commitment, expertise and vision that she has put into setting up and running LEAP.” 

LEAP at the University of Westminster directly contributes to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 10: Reduced Inequalities and 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions. Since 2019, the University of Westminster has used the SDGs holistically to frame strategic decisions to help students and colleagues fulfil their potential and contribute to a more sustainable, equitable and healthier society.

Find out more about Law courses at the University of Westminster.