A law group inspired by one of its clients – a survivor of the Southport attack – has become the first legal business to sign up to a safer knife drive.
The MAPD Group has replaced all its kitchen knives with round-tip blades after pledging support to the Let’s Be Blunt campaign, founded by Leanne Lucas.
Lucas was hosting a Taylor Swift-themed workshop in Southport in 2024 when Axel Rudakubana attacked members of the class, murdering three girls. She was stabbed five times during the attack but survived and went on to start the community interest company which asks individuals and businesses to take a pledge to switch to round-tipped knives. The idea of the campaign group is to prevent harm and spark a national conversation through practical, evidence-informed action.
Lucas is a client of MAPD Group firm Broudie Jackson Canter. She visited the firm to give a seminar about the evidence behind safer knife design and practical steps that can be taken to help reduce knife crime.
The group, which includes Jackson Lees Group (Broudie Jackson Canter, Jackson Lees, Farrington Law), Bermans, Bromleys Solicitors and Myers & Co, has now replaced more than 40 knives across its 15 offices.
MAPD says it hopes the move will create a ripple effect across the legal sector by encouraging other firms to remove their traditional kitchen knives for disposal via local authority safety bins for melting or crushing.
Esther Leach, managing director of Jackson Lees Group, said: ‘Through our work representing the three adult survivors of the Southport attack at the independent Inquiry chaired by Adrian Fulford, as well as other victims of knife crime, we know first-hand the importance of prevention and education and hope other firms will follow our lead.
‘Leanne is an inspiration, taking her horrendous experience and turning it into something that can help countless others.’
The Office for National Statistics’ latest homicide data for 2025 shows the kitchen knife is the most commonly used weapon, representing around 46% of all fatal stabbings. Let’s Be Blunt makes the case that knives with rounded blades can significantly reduce the risk of serious injury.
Lucas added: ‘Law firms understand better than most businesses the truly devastating impact of knife crime and the ripple effect it has on the many innocent victims across the country. We need to change the way we view our pointed kitchen knives as just another harmless kitchen tool and embrace this simple safety measure to protect communities.’
Other firms in the MAPD Group are Thomson Hayton Winkley & The Rural Law Practice, Gisby Harrison, Emerald Law and Avidity IP.
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