PBS Co-founder Aideen Byrne nominated for 'Excellent Newcomer' award

07 June 2021

We are pleased to report that Probonoskills.com’s (“PBS”) co-founder, Aideen Byrne, has been shortlisted for the University of Edinburgh’s College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences’ “Excellent Newcomer” award. The annual, peer-nominated award is designed to recognise those who have made a particularly significant impact during their first year in post.

Ryan Whelan, Co-chair of PBS, said: “I’m delighted but not at all surprised that Aideen has been nominated for the prestigious Excellent Newcomer award. She brings a tremendous amount of creativity, energy and enthusiasm to her work, and I have no doubt that it is those qualities – as well as her kindness and steadfast commitment to improving access to justice, developing future lawyers, and assisting those in need – that made her stand out to the panel as most deserving of recognition.

“To give you a sense of the scale of Aideen’s contribution to improving access to justice in the last year, it’s worth recapping some of what she’s done in the context of the pandemic: Aideen spearheaded the launch of Edinburgh’s StEEt Aware Law Clinic, which operates in collaboration with Just Right Scotland and Streetwork; played a key role in launching the Edinburgh Free Legal Advice Centre’s virtual law clinic; and has been instrumental – absolutely instrumental – to the launch and growth of PBS. In short, she’s a pro bono superstar and I know I speak on behalf of the whole team when I say that we are immeasurably proud to count Aideen as a colleague – and she absolutely has our vote for this Excellent Newcomer award!”