The award for 'Best contribution by a team of students’ at the Attorney General Student Pro Bono Awards was handed to Queen Mary's Legal Advice Centre (LAC) for its SPITE project. SPITE (Sharing and Publishing Images to Embarrass) is a free legal advice service provided to anyone who has been a victim of 'revenge porn', or subjected to the 'sharing and publication of images to embarrass' by another individual.
Nine students attended secondary schools, providing workshops and have developed ways to educate a younger audience, such as producing artificial Facebook accounts to show how quickly images spread, as well as demonstrations of mobile phone privacy settings.
Students also conduct client appointments with victims where, at times, clients share extremely sensitive information.
Since starting the project, 400 school students have been educated and a further 40 law practitioners have attended CPD seminars on the sharing of intimate images.
The LAC was nominated for a further two awards - 'Best Contribution by a Law School' and 'Best New Project'.