LawWorks - Newsletter

A year of digital development

peterjackson — Wed, 17 Mar 2021 15:00:00 +0000

A key priority for LawWorks has been to develop digital tools and platforms to better enable pro bono volunteers to work remotely, and to more effectively match supply and need using technology. As well as developing our webforms, and opening our website content to wider stakeholders by removing login requirements for most of our resources, we are supporting a number of new projects.

This is an exciting challenge for LawWorks, building on our expertise in encouraging and supporting pro bono and project delivery. LawWorks is currently supporting four pro bono platforms and digital projects, each with significant potential to enable access to justice through pro bono.

LawWorks’ key pro bono platforms and digital projects are:

Free Legal Answers

Free Legal Answers is an online platform that connects individuals in need of initial legal advice with pro bono lawyers. The focus is on early/initial legal advice on civil law matters for those on low incomes. Users can describe a legal problem on the platform or ask a legal question and receive pro bono legal advice. The platform is currently working as a referral model with a network of agencies, and feedback has been positive. So far it has provided advice to over 120 individuals – with numbers planned to significantly grow as more people are referred to the platform and more pro bono lawyers take part. Free Legal Answers is based on a service in the United States supported by the American Bar Association. LawWorks was granted a licence to launch a similar website in England and Wales. The initial project development was kindly overseen and supported by Deloitte Legal.

To get involved as a referral agency or to volunteer, please contact dakota.blacklaws-lacy@lawworks.org.uk.

freelegalanswers.org.uk

Pro Bono Portal UK (Justice Connect)

LawWorks is developing a new pro bono platform to connect lawyers with more in-depth pro bono advice, casework, representation and a range of other legal and non-legal volunteering opportunities. The pro bono matters are first triaged/submitted by advice agencies, law centres and other approved referral agencies. Developed originally by Justice Connect (an Australian access to justice charity), the pilot is part of a project (working with PILnet) to introduce the award-winning platform in different international legal jurisdictions. The platform also has the potential to enhance (and better coordinate) existing LawWorks projects.

Major Incidents Response project

LawWorks has been working with the Law Society of England and Wales and other stakeholders (including representatives of the Collaborative Plan for Pro Bono) to create a process and mechanism for enabling and coordinating a profession-wide response to major incidents, when access to advice may be needed. A steering group has been supporting the development of the project, building on the experience and learning of previous pro bono responses, particularly following the Grenfell Tower tragedy. LawWorks will play a key role in supporting pro bono responses, including working with HighQ (part of Thompson Reuters) to launch, maintain and develop a public facing website and platform, to connect people needing legal support with pro bono lawyers.

The Jeanie Project

The Jeanie Project is a registered charity established to relieve financial hardship “by assisting in the provision of legal services and advice…”. The charity has developed and piloted (with the pro bono support of KIM Technologies) a new software platform (called Jeanie KIM). The free platform enables front-line staff and volunteers (in community groups and other local settings) to go through structured scenarios and questions with vulnerable clients with legal problems. Pro bono lawyers and others can access the ‘triaged’ information remotely and decide whether to take on a case. A pilot (and evaluation) was successful in delivering a ‘proof of concept’ for the platform, working with Toynbee Hall Women’s Clinic, Camden Community Law Centre, and the surgery offices of Sir Keir Starmer QC MP and Lyn Brown MP.

thejeanieproject.org.uk

To support these projects we are pleased to announce that Sanjay Hora has joined the team as Project Officer (Legal Advice and Technology) and that Jennifer Cheshire will be joining us in April as Head of Digital Projects and Platforms.

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Unpaid Wages Project

peterjackson — Tue, 11 Aug 2020 15:31:00 +0000

LawWorks’ secondary specialisation projects enable volunteer solicitors from member organisations to provide pro bono support to individuals beyond initial advice, where there is significant legal need and the provision of legal representation is otherwise limited.

The unpaid wages project supports lawyers to develop pro bono expertise in a specific area of employment law, helping individuals in London subject to ‘wage theft’, i.e., not being paid in full for the work that they do, being denied the minimum wage, or owed holiday, sickness or notice pay.

The project also provides legal representation to individuals who are bringing a claim against their employer in the Employment Appeal Tribunal (the ‘ET’), including settlement negotiations. The economic and other impacts of the pandemic suggest that the problem of unpaid wages, particularly for the more vulnerable, may increase.

A survey of ET applications made between 2013 and 2018, published by the Government in July, demonstrated the clear advantage of representation by a solicitor: claims were more likely to settle, and a hearing more likely to be successful if a claimant had representation. Claimants who cannot afford legal representation do not have these advantages, and the project aims to redress this.

The majority of the project’s cases so far have settled favourably; some have obtained a default judgment (where the employer does not attend the hearing, and the claimant is awarded their claim); and one went to a contested hearing which resulted in a successful outcome for the client.

Clients for the project are referred to LawWorks by a diverse range of advice and community organisations across London, some working closely with vulnerable communities experiencing discrimination. For example, in the words of LAWRS (the Latin American Women’s Rights Service), “Latin American women are affected by intersectional layers of discrimination based on gender, ethnic background, and nationality/legal status.”

Discriminated-against groups are often subjected to wage theft, and may work under precarious zero hour contracts, face a ‘language barrier’, and a lack of access to legal resources. The survey of ET applications showed that claimants making unpaid wages claims are less likely to be involved in managerial roles and more likely to be in skilled trade or elementary occupations.

A client of LawWorks highlights the importance of the project’s work:

Maria, an Italian who has been living and working in the UK for several years, was employed by a cleaning company which provided cleaning services for a large department store. Initially she was asked to cover a holiday absence and was expected to work for 12 hours a day, six days a week and paid £7.50 an hour.

Once this initial period was over, the hours suddenly dropped substantially and Maria was effectively on a zero hours contract. There were long periods when she was not called to work or, if called, she arrived to find she was no longer needed. Sometimes when Maria was expected to clean three floors of large department store during a four hour shift, which was impossible during the allotted time – despite having to spend longer on the job Maria was never paid for the extra hours. The work sometimes made Maria ill, but when she took time off to recover she was never paid in lieu, and over a 12 month period Maria was underpaid every time except once; the company failed to properly record how many hours she had logged, and never made clear whether she was entitled to holiday pay.

Maria does not speak fluent English and could not afford to pay for legal advice and therefore struggled to assert her rights with her employer. The company refused to acknowledge her grievances and even told her not to speak to a lawyer. Maria was eventually referred to the LawWorks unpaid wages project where a volunteer lawyer, who had been trained by LawWorks and who spoke fluent Italian, pursued her claim for unpaid wages through the Employment Tribunal. The employer settled the case rather than face a hearing and Maria was awarded over £2,700, the total amount claimed.

Maria was grateful for the support of LawWorks and the volunteer lawyer who, she says, worked very hard on her case. However, she remains angry with the way she was treated by her former employer and worries about friends with similar issues.

LawWorks is proud to have assisted Maria. Her case demonstrates the importance of pro bono legal representation, and some of the systemic barriers workers in her position face, including her employer telling her not to seek legal advice, and her friends in similar positions feeling unable to come forward. Lawworks have taken on cases where, as a consequence of the legal assistance provided, colleagues of the client have felt enabled and confident to also make claims against their employer with multi-claim actions being taken on by the volunteer solicitors, helping to address ‘wage theft’ for disadvantaged communities.

*The client’s name has been changed to protect her identity.

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Fundraising and supporting LawWorks news

peterjackson — Tue, 11 Aug 2020 15:23:00 +0000

Funding opportunities

LawWorks has been updating information about relevant grants and Covid-19 response funding opportunities that may be of interest to clinics and other stakeholders. Visit the funding page for more information.

London Legal Walk

The London Legal Walk 10xChallenge will take place on Monday 5th October, replacing this year’s London Legal Walk, organised by the London Legal Support Trust.

Please consider forming a team with your colleagues and nominating LawWorks as your chosen charity (we will receive 50% of the funds you raise, with 50% going to the London Legal Support Trust). You can still walk or run 10k, or skip, jog, swim, skateboard or space hopper your way to 10, 100, 1,000 or even 10,000.

Remember a Charity Week 7-13 September

LawWorks is a member of Remember A Charity, which promotes charitable gifts in wills to the public. For many charities, legacies are their biggest source of income, allowing them to continue providing vital services. However, research shows that 35% of people want to leave money to charity in their will, but only about 6% do.

We shall be participating in Remember A Charity Week from 7-13 September, so look out for our social media activity and please share it with your contacts.

This campaign will highlight the flexibility to donate any sum, large or small, to a range of causes, while ensuring loved ones are taken care of.

You can find out more about leaving a gift to LawWorks on our website.

LawWorks sponsorship opportunities

LawWorks sits at the heart of a network of law firms, clinics, law schools and advice providers across England and Wales, which is working to ensure access for justice for the most vulnerable members of society. Our members include large City and international law firms, in-house teams, regional and small high street law firms, law schools and charities. In 2019, nearly 10,000 people volunteered though our programmes and the independent clinics in our network, and over 1,000 solicitors and advisors attended our training sessions.

If you would like to highlight your support for LawWorks and raise your profile with our members and others, we can offer a range of sponsorship opportunities. Please email Sarah Taylor to discuss.

Donating to LawWorks - How you can help

LawWorks supports advice clinics and volunteers across England and Wales that provide free legal advice to those most in need and small charities. We also co-ordinate in-depth case work on welfare benefits, unpaid wages and social care, provide training and resources, and use evidence from our work to advocate to reduce barriers to free legal advice.

The need for our work is greater than ever. Covid-19 has already had a significant impact on the vulnerable groups and communities supported by our programmes. Many will suffer from loss of employment, difficulty accessing benefits, housing issues, and domestic abuse. These issues are likely to continue long after the immediate health crisis is over.

All of this has been made possible because of the support of our volunteers, members, funders and donors. You can donate on our website or, if you would like to discuss how you or your organisation can support LawWorks financially, please contact Sarah Taylor, Head of Fundraising.

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Equality, diversity, and inclusion: Challenges for pro bono

peterjackson — Tue, 11 Aug 2020 15:01:00 +0000

The July legal and advice sector roundtable included contributions from the Equality and Human Rights Commission and Equally Ours about the equality and diversity challenges the sector faces. A common theme is that since the pandemic some client groups have ‘disappeared’ from legal and advice service provision.

A key priority for LawWorks is to review our own approach to equality, diversity, and inclusion, internally and externally, and strengthen our commitment to ending all forms of discrimination and prejudice, including institutional racism and other barriers to inclusion. Recent work undertaken includes:

Equality Act training;
a resource for clinics on designing accessible services; and
a new bilingual newsletter for LawWorks Cymru (the next phase of our work in Wales will focus on delivering clinics in health settings, and on co-production approaches).

There is much more to do, especially on issues of race and reaching diverse communities. The recent ACEVO and Voice4Change England ‘Home Truths’ report highlighted the significant and unresolved issues of racism in the charity sector. A conversation about equality and diversity is profoundly important for the pro bono sector and for access to justice, and something we will engage with our stakeholders on in the coming months.

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LawWorks summer policy round-up

peterjackson — Tue, 11 Aug 2020 14:52:00 +0000

LawWorks have continued to work on a range of policy issues during the pandemic, including through the legal and advice sector roundtable which has provided a valuable forum for communicating concerns and issues to the Ministry of Justice and others.

The July roundtable included a presentation from James Sandbach, LawWorks Director of Policy and External Affairs, on some of the most pressing issues as key temporary protections from earlier Covid-19 related policy interventions by Government start to be withdrawn in summer and autumn (such as the stay on possession proceedings).

The impact the pandemic and its adverse social consequences - including on legal needs, the court system and legal aid provision - has been a major concern. Along with Carol Storer from the Legal Action Group, and Chris McCurley from Ben Hoare Bell, LawWorks gave oral evidence to the House of Lords Constitution Committee on these issues. The Justice Select Committee have also published reports on the impact on the courts and the impact on the legal profession.

The August roundtable will enable further engagement with the Ministry of Justice on the prioritisation of early legal advice under the Legal Support Action Plan, including making a strategic case to the Treasury on investment in the sector. Other areas of policy we have been working on have included:

The Family Justice System: Key legislation has been going through Parliament on divorce and domestic abuse; we produced a joint briefing, with the Advice Services Alliance and the Litigants in Person Support Strategy Partners, for Parliamentarians on these important issues.
Employment rights and employment tribunals. The Law Commission of England and Wales has published a report recommending increased powers for employment tribunals. LawWorks submission is quoted in several places. We are also working with the Employment Legal Advice Network (ELAN) on a range of employment rights issues from furlough, to enforcement, to concerns over a potential re-introduction of employment tribunal fees.
Legal Services Regulation. The Independent Review of Legal Services Regulation undertaken by Professor Stephen Mayson has published its final report - Reforming legal services: Regulation beyond the echo chambers, and quotes LawWorks’ submissions.

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Employment rights – policy update

peterjackson — Thu, 21 Feb 2019 17:24:00 +0000

Complementing our unpaid wages pro bono project, we are continuing our policy work on employment rights. Our work focuses on the need for an accessible and robust redress system to uphold fair and consistent rights and protections for all employees and workers. This is a hot topic given changing labour market conditions, exploitation and pay in the ‘gig economy,’ and debates over EU law on workers' protection.

The Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) have published their “Good Work Plan” (December 2018), following the Government commissioned independent ‘Taylor Review’. Government commitments include:

legislating to give all workers the right to request a more stable contract;
banning use of agency worker contracts which derogate from equal pay rights;
extending to workers an entitlement to a statement of their rights on appointment, including specific information for agency workers;
launching an awareness campaign and information tools on paid leave entitlement;
banning employers from making deductions from staff tips;
legislating to clarify employment status tests to prevent employers from using status uncertainty to misclassify or mislead staff;
extending state enforcement to underpayment of holiday pay;
legislating to increase the maximum level of penalty that Employment Tribunals can impose, and to create an obligation on Employment Tribunals to consider the use of sanctions;
bringing forward proposals for a new single labour market enforcement agency.

Addressing the challenges for the Employment Tribunal (ET), the Law Commission have also been consulting on a package of reforms to extend the jurisdiction and capability of the ET, including the time and compensation limits for contract based claims, its scope over discrimination claims, and its powers to enforce judgements.

Whilst modest and incremental, many of the proposed reforms are in line with suggestions made by LawWorks in the consultation process, and we were pleased to have been quoted in the Taylor review’s final report:

“Employment rights need to strike the right balance between security, flexibility and innovation. Above all though people need transparency, information and advice about what their rights and legal position may be in any particular context and relationship”.

“There can and should be greater transparency for all workers as to the terms of their engagement and accrued rights, such as pay. Extending to “workers” similar rights of employees as regards particulars of engagement as well as itemised information regarding pay and other accrued entitlements could be the first step to informing workers on the most basic level about their rights and obligations”

You can see read our submissions below:-

An Employment Rights Bill to implement some of these changes is expected shortly.

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Housing and homelessness allocations webinar

peterjackson — Mon, 31 Jul 2017 10:07:28 +0000

LawWorks are increasingly supplementing our training programme by hosting Webinar sessions with Lexis Nexis.

Our most recent Webinar facilitated by CEO Martin Barnes covered homelessness and housing allocations. Angus King, Solicitor at Lambeth Law Centre and Ian Peacock of Arden Chambers, the webinar dealt with the legal issues to address when a person applies to the local authority to be housed and the criteria set out in local allocations policies, including housing options and prevention of homelessness duties, and the overall policy context. The webinar looked at:

how homelessness applications differ from housing applications;
the criteria that needs to be satisfied before the local authority decides whether it has the duty to house the homeless person and their family and;
review and appeal rights

You can access the video via the Lexis Auditorium.

The content of this video is accurate as at July 14th 2017. The recording is around 1 hour.

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All Party Parliamentary Group

peterjackson — Fri, 28 Jul 2017 12:50:00 +0000

Just before Parliament broke for the “snap” election, the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Pro Bono published a report jointly with Hogan Lovells called "Mind the Gap - an assessment of unmet legal needs in London” which was the culmination of months of active pro bono work by Hogan Lovells researching legal issues in MPs surgeries.

The report found that constituents are increasingly seeking legal advice at MPs’ surgeries – from the survey data gathered by this project 89 per cent of problems presenting at London MP’s constituency offices were legal, and more than a third of these legal problems involved housing and almost a quarter involved immigration. The report called for better training for MPs and caseworkers on identifying legal issues, and for partnership working between constituency caseworkers with Law Centres, Citizens Advice and other advice charities and with more resources directed towards them.

You can download the full report from our website: Mind the Gap - an assessment of unmet legal need in London.

In the new Parliament the APPG on Pro Bono have now decided to merge with the APPG on Public Legal Education in order to give greater profile support and profile to these issues in the current Parliament. Recent meetings of the All Party Groups have tackled a wide number of issues including court digitisation, legal health and capability, legal insurance consumer issues, the LASPO review and legal information and rights issues connected with Brexit.

The next meeting of the APPG will be a joint meeting on September 6th with the APPG on the Rule of Law and the APPG on Legal Aid on the justice issues facing this Parliament.

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National Pro Bono Week and LawWorks Student Conference

peterjackson — Fri, 28 Jul 2017 12:41:00 +0000

This year National Pro Bono week will take place 6 - 11th November. LawWorks is supporting the Law Society and the Bar Council to deliver a series of events and initiatives to showcase pro bono work.

We are pleased to announce that LawWorks will be

Holding a special seminar event with distinguished legal activist and scholar Edgar Cahn on pro bono and Time Banking
Hosting a Student Pro Bono Conference jointly with the University of Manchester Law School.

National Pro Bono week is a great opportunity to celebrate achievements and recognise the outcomes, scale and quality of pro bono work. If you are interested in getting involved in National Pro Bono week – or running a local event - you can find more information and resources too support your activities on the National Pro Bono Centre website.

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LawWorks Awards

peterjackson — Fri, 28 Jul 2017 12:34:00 +0000

Every year LawWorks organise two major awards events for pro bono achievements; the Attorney General Student Pro Bono Awards, and the LawWorks Pro Bono Awards and lecture 2017.

Our student awards celebrate the exceptional contribution of law students and law schools to pro bono legal advice. This year the awards ceremony was held at the House of Commons on 26th April hosted by His Honour Sir Robin Knowles CBE and the event was attended by over 200 guests, with Attorney General speaking. You can find more about the awards and the winners on our website: LawWorks & Attorney General Student Awards 2017.

Our Annual Pro Bono Awards recognise and celebrate achievement in legal pro bono undertaken by organisations and individuals and the dedication and commitment of the legal sector to positively impact individuals and communities. The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on Tuesday 5th December 2017 hosted at the Law Society. Hilary Bass, the incoming president of the American Bar Association, will deliver the annual Awards lecture.