Aika Stephenson co-founded Just for Kids Law – a charity dedicated to providing legal representation and advice to young people as well as fighting for reform on a wider level – in 2006.Growing up between Luton and Somerset, with a Jamaican father and British mother, Aika’s tumultuous childhood inspired her to pursue a career in law to advocate for social justice. As Aika says: “My sister and I spent years living between a farm in Somerset with my mum and her parents, and my dad at his home in Luton. It was when I was seven that dad first went to prison. I can’t remember the reason, but it was to be the start of a period of his life when he was in and out of life in jail.“I developed a negative view of the police from a young age, watching the interactions when my dad was stopped when we were out and about, and learning to be alert to police cars, pointing them out to my dad. We would visit him in prison, and while I didn’t fully understand it, I knew he was being kept there against his will, and I didn’t like it. I wanted him at home with me and the police and prison guards were the people who were stopping that. So at 10, when I began to get a basic understanding of the role played by lawyers in all of this, I decided that is what I was going to be.”After a stint at a corporate law firm, Aika started her career in youth justice working for the Children’s Society at Feltham Young Offenders Institute as an Advocate before going on to Westminster Youth Offending Team. Now, she is a solicitor and youth justice expert with years of experience representing young people in criminal proceedings and particularly those with special educational needs. She heads up Just for Kids Law’s legal team and has won numerous awards for her work, including the prestigious Criminal Defence Lawyer of the Year at the Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year Awards, 2018. She is also a Director of the Youth Justice Legal Centre. Aika has pioneered employing cutting-edge arguments to ensure she gets the best possible results for her young clients, particularly those with special educational needs. She has had a high level of success using the Modern Slavery Act to ensure that vulnerable young people who have been groomed by gangs into selling drugs are recognised as victims, rather than treated as offenders.Aika represents young people at every stage of the criminal justice process, from the police station to the Supreme Court. She is driven by a determination to bring about systemic change that benefits all children and young people caught up in the criminal justice system.Read more about this authorRead less about this author