The fourteenth Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year awards recognised the achievements of those who had worked through what LAPG co-chair Jenny Beck, opening the ceremony, described as an ‘extraordinary year’ for anyone who cares about access to justice and the rule of law, which saw ‘the most significant legal case in a generation’.

She was, of course, referring to the Hillsborough inquest verdict, which, after 27 years, knocked through the lies and cover-ups to find that the 96 fans who lost their lives in the stadium disaster had been unlawfully killed. The team of lawyers from 12 firms and chambers who acted for the families of the 96 received the outstanding achievement award and a standing ovation from the 500 guests at the ceremony in London.

Although not funded through legal aid, which is unavailable for inquests, Beck told the audience the lawyers involved were legal aid lawyers: ‘Legal aid is where they learned their trade and have spent most of their careers. Make no mistake, it was legal aid lawyers what won it.’

The Hillsborough inquest, she said, was about securing justice for the families, but also about ‘sending a message to anyone in public office that, even if it takes 27 years too long, if you behave in a way that is negligent and dangerous, the law will hold you to account. The Hillsborough lawyers won that battle not just for the 96 families, but for all of us, and we salute them this evening’.

Terry Wilcox from Liverpool firm EAD Solicitors, which acted for some of the families, revealed that his brother was a Hillsborough survivor. ‘I could easily have been sitting on the other side of the courtroom,’ he said.

Speaking on behalf of the award winners, Ruth Bundey from Harrison Bundey said the ‘jubilation’ at the inquest verdict was not the end: ‘It must be translated into scrutiny of what comes next, as with hope in our hearts we look forward to prosecutions, to new laws on accountability and to real justice for the 96.’ She spoke of the agony and grief of the victims’ families, but also of the ‘unity of purpose’, a ‘comradeship and co-operation’ of the lawyers involved, who, she said, were ‘all in it together’.

Teamwork was a theme that ran through the evening. Collecting his public law lawyer award, Bhatt Murphy’s Simon Creighton shared it with colleague and fellow nominee Jane Ryan, while the Anti Trafficking and Labour Exploitation Unit, which won the legal aid firm/not-for-profit category, thanked Ruth Hayes, the director of Islington Law Centre, nominated in the same category, for housing them at the law centre.

The 2016 LALYs were a year of firsts. For the first time, they were open to lawyers in Northern Ireland, and KRW Law’s Darragh Mackin became the first Northern Irish winner, scooping the legal aid newcomer award. Accepting it on his behalf, Peter Corrigan gave an emotional speech praising Darragh’s courage and bravery. He said: ‘I don’t want to over-politicise things, but when we have public school boys posing as statesmen taking away our rights, we need young people like Darragh Mackin who are prepared to fight for the most vulnerable.’ Also for the first time, LAPG crowdfunded for sponsorship for one category – coincidentally, legal aid newcomer – and 67 individuals and organisations donated to become Friends of LALY16.

The evening was compèred by Sky News presenter Anna Jones, with the 12 awards presented by Baroness Doreen Lawrence, who paid tribute to the work of legal aid lawyers, without whom, she said, ‘families like ours would never have got justice’.