30 January 2026
Peter Kandler’s honorary KC marks long-overdue recognition of a man who helped prise open a closed legal world. In NLJ this week, Roger Smith, columnist and former director of JUSTICE, traces how Kandler founded the UK’s first law centre in 1970, challenging a profession that was largely seen as 'fixers for the rich and apologists for criminals'
The law centre movement transformed access to justice, championing tenants, suspects and marginalised communities while reshaping legal education and career paths. Smith recalls how law ‘could sing with new rhythms and concerns’, producing generations of lawyers who viewed public service as central rather than peripheral.
Kandler’s confrontational style earned enemies, but also influence: he ‘could not help talking truth to power’, and power often listened.
For Smith, the award is not just personal recognition but a reminder of how radically legal practice changed when aid, activism and professionalism combined. As law centres now ‘wither on the vine’, the article is both a tribute and a warning.
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