The Law Society of England and Wales has unveiled the artworks it commissioned to mark 200 years of supporting solicitors, created by celebrated British artist and Turner Prize winner Helen Cammock.
‘A People’s Practice’ is a suite of three art works installed at the Law Society’s Chancery Lane building in London. Each piece invites reflection on the weight of the oath solicitors take, the emotional terrain they navigate and the ethical balance they must strive to uphold.
“This year marks our bicentenary. Two hundred years of solicitors shaping society, upholding justice and standing up for the rule of law,” said Mark Evans, Law Society president.
“We wanted to mark this milestone not just by looking back, but by creating something that speaks to who we are today and who we are becoming. So, we commissioned an artwork that now lives in the heart of our building, something that hopefully speaks to the soul of our profession.
“We chose artist Helen Cammock, whose work champions inclusivity and representation and focuses on often overlooked and marginalised voices. This artwork reminds us that law is not just about rules, it is, above all, about people. It is about care, respect and the courage to stand up for what is right, even when the system is imperfect.”
‘Conversations about injustice and inequity and the structures that maintain them are core to the work I make’, Cammock said.
“I’m interested in systems of power and how they moderate both collective and individual experience. For this Law Society commission, the work focuses on both a call to action and an acknowledgement of the weight carried by solicitors working to ensure equality before the law.”
Last month, Today’s Media spoke to Cammock about her legal experience as a social worker within the family courts and probation system, and her father’s background as a magistrate.
‘I can trace my passion for justice back to my childhood’, she explained.
“Both my parents raised us to be in touch with injustice in the world and the importance of bearing witness and striving to challenge it. They were teachers and my father also became a magistrate. He wanted to be a part of a system where he hoped to make a difference and saw that structurally it matters who is present at all levels of the process.
“It matters who is ‘sitting in the chair’, who is presenting to court, who is supporting people through a complicated and intimidating system. A system that is inherently an extension of the structural inequality of the society that birthed it. So, interpretation, ethics, care and respect are all key.
“In this commission, I also want to acknowledge the hardships solicitors face every day in their work, some of which I witnessed firsthand whilst working in the social care system earlier in my life.”
