Friends of Rosie is Exchange Chambers’ chosen charity for 2023.
Friends of Rosie is a volunteer-led charity that provides funding for children’s cancer research to get new ideas off the ground. Without their help many research projects would never get underway, meaning critical breakthroughs in childhood cancer research being left undiscovered.
When five year old Rosie Larkin lost her battle with cancer in 1991, her friends and family were determined to carry on the fight. They set up the Friends of Rosie Children’s Cancer Research Fund. This year we celebrate our 30th birthday – an achievement that has only been possible thanks to our wonderful supporters.
So far, the charity has funded a total of 28 research projects at a cost of £2.75 million. They cover a wide variety of childhood cancers from neuroblastoma and leukaemia, to osteosarcoma and brain tumours. The research ideas funded are right at the outset of medical thinking and innovation. We give these ideas the chance to make a difference.
Many childhood cancers still have a poor outlook and today’s treatments are harsh, unpleasant and uncertain, especially on young bodies that are still growing.
Highlights
Exchange Chambers is proud to have been part of a pioneering pro-bono alliance with The National Autistic Society’s Education Rights Service, between 2009 and 2024.
The Exchange Chambers team comprised of 30 barristers, including two King’s Counsel with decades of experience fighting injustice, providing legal support to families with autistic children.
Our barristers undertook autism awareness and special educational needs training from The National Autistic Society, and provided free legal representation before the Special Educational Needs Tribunal.
We were awarded the Outstanding Family Support Award at the 2016 Autism Professionals Awards.