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In search of local justice

05 December 2019 / Keith Wilding
Issue: 7867 / Categories: Features , Profession , Legal aid focus
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Keith Wilding explains the difference Law Centres make to individual lives
  • The law can be used as a tool for change.
  • Working alongside the socially excluded as individuals, in groups, and in communities can help resolve seemingly intractable problems.
  • Seeking to influence local and national policy through the legal process is an integral part of seeking social justice.

It’s not just for lawyers and it’s not simply a legal advice centre. A Law Centre, as a member of the Law Centres Network, adopts the underlying assumption that Law Centres operate in an unequal society and seek to make a contribution to the fight for social justice. In so doing, it uses the law as a tool for change and uses the strengths of the community it serves. It works alongside people who are socially excluded and it works with other organisations striving for similar goals. An important part of its work is harnessing the strengths of the community.

The government’s austerity programme has resulted in the reduction of

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

FOIL—Bridget Tatham

FOIL—Bridget Tatham

Forum of Insurance Lawyers elects president for 2026

Gibson Dunn—Robbie Sinclair

Gibson Dunn—Robbie Sinclair

Partner joinslabour and employment practice in London

Muckle LLP—Ella Johnson

Muckle LLP—Ella Johnson

Real estate dispute resolution team welcomes newly qualified solicitor

NEWS
Solicitors are installing panic buttons and thumb print scanners due to ‘systemic and rising’ intimidation including death and arson threats from clients
Ministers’ decision to scrap plans for their Labour manifesto pledge of day one protection from unfair dismissal was entirely predictable, employment lawyers have said
Cryptocurrency is reshaping financial remedy cases, warns Robert Webster of Maguire Family Law in NLJ this week. Digital assets—concealable, volatile and hard to trace—are fuelling suspicions of hidden wealth, yet Form E still lacks a section for crypto-disclosure
NLJ columnist Stephen Gold surveys a flurry of procedural reforms in his latest 'Civil way' column
Paper cyber-incident plans are useless once ransomware strikes, argues Jack Morris of Epiq in NLJ this week
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