The British Columbia Law Institute (BCLI), with the support of the Canadian Bar Association, British Columbia (CBABC), has announced Manjot K. Sekhon as the winner of the first annual 2025 Mathew Good Memorial Prize, an essay contest for law students. This year’s theme focused on access to justice and law reform.

Sekhon is a 2025 graduate of Thompson Rivers University’s Faculty of Law. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of British Columbia and is passionate about the intersection of law, social justice and advocacy.

Her winning paper, Balancing the Scales: The Need for Reform of Judicial Guidelines to Balance Support for Self-Represented Litigants and Uphold Public Confidence looks at how the judicial system can better address the needs of self-represented litigants while upholding public confidence. It explores the challenges faced by judges as decision makers, examines the broader impact of self-represented litigants on the legal system, and proposes reforms.

The Mathew Good Memorial Prize recognizes outstanding legal writing on issues of access to justice. The prize includes a $1,000 award, generously sponsored by the Law Foundation of British Columbia. Sekhon’s paper is available to read on BCLI’s website and will be published in BarTalk by the CBABC.