RebLaw UK Conference 2026

You're invited to RebLaw UK 2026, the rebellious lawyers conference... ⚡⚡⚡

Grounded in the spirit of Gerald Lopez’s book ‘Rebellious Lawyering’, RebLaw is building a community of law students, practitioners, and activists working within social justice movements to challenge hierarchies of race, wealth, gender, and expertise within legal practice and education.

Founded in 2016, RebLaw UK is the sister conference to Yale Law School’s RebLaw, the largest student-run public interest law conference in the US.

Over the years, thousands of students, activists, practitioners and interested members of the public have attended RebLaw UK conferences.

This year, 10 years on from when it was first founded, Legal Action Group and the UCL Centre for Access to Justice are joining forces to bring you RebLaw UK 2026. This year we will be recognising the contribution that the late Simon Mullings (Spike) made as a truly rebellious lawyer in the housing field and beyond. 

The conference will bring some of the most rebellious amongst us to inspire the next generation of activists and activist lawyers. We are delighted to have internationally renowned climate justice lawyer, Tessa Khan, delivering our opening keynote.

We're looking forward to bringing students, activists and practitioners together to imagine a future where human rights are universally respected, legal rights are understood and enforced equally and access to justice for all is a reality.

Join us on 21 November to be part of the movement.

Confirmed speakers (so far!) include:

Tessa Khan, Uplift

Rajiv Menon KC, Garden Court

Gareth Peirce, Birnberg Peirce and Partners

Ben Reeves Lewis, Safer Renting

Jack Sheard, Garden Court

Issac Acharya, Justice for Tenants

Aaron Walawalkar, Liberty Investigates

Aqsa Suleman

Amy Price, Coram 

Ollie Persey, Garden Court

Marc Willers KC, Garden Court

Dr Fergus Green, UCL

Joseph Griso Dryer, Public Interest Law Centre (PILC)

Keya Advani, Sistren

Prof Jane Holder, UCL  

Nick Beales, Refugee and Migrant Justice

Madeleine Kelleher, Southwark Law Centre

Jenushka Thayaparan, Hammersmith Law Centre

Zach Whyte, Sperrin Law

Audrey Cherryl Mogan, Garden Court  

Rosie Fox, Public Interest Law Centre (PILC)

Jamie Mc Gowan, Garden Court 

Sue James, Legal Action Group

Meet our Keynote Speaker - Tessa Khan

Tessa Khan is a well-renowned international climate change lawyer and campaigner. She is the founder and executive director of Uplift, an organisation that works towards a just transition away from oil and gas production. Before founding Uplift, she was co-founder and Co-Director of the Climate Litigation Network, which supports groundbreaking strategic climate litigation around the world. She has spent two decades supporting grassroots, regional and international movements for justice and has served as an expert advisor to UN human rights bodies and national governments, while working in Thailand, Egypt, India, the US, the Netherlands and Australia. In 2019, she was named by TIME magazine as one of fifteen women leading the fight against climate change. Tessa is also a recipient of a Climate Breakthrough award, the largest climate action grant for individuals. We're delighted that she will be delivering our keynote address.