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08 December 2017 / Matthew Smerdon
Issue: 7773 / Categories: Features , Profession
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Sustainable justice first

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Aspiring social justice lawyers have an opportunity to qualify & build lasting careers, as Matthew Smerdon explains

Social welfare law, the ‘law of everyday life’, which covers everything from welfare benefits, debt, housing, employment, community care, and immigration and asylum, may not be the most financially rewarding area of practice to some wannabe lawyers, but it remains a crucial element of the UK’s legal sector with a vital role to play in supporting people to secure their rights.

Following passage of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 and wider reductions in local authority support, the Legal Education Foundation (TLEF) became concerned about the funding pressures on the legal aid and advice sectors, reducing the ability of those with legal problems to obtain help. Alongside this was the virtual collapse in the ability of the sector to offer training contracts.

With a lack of public funds squeezing law centres and private practice law firms TLEF looked to create a scheme that would help aspiring social justice lawyers qualify and build sustainable careers in this

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

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Sponsored by
DWF—David Abbott & Claire Keat

DWF—David Abbott & Claire Keat

Senior appointments in insurance services and commercial services announced

Clyde & Co—Nick Roberts

Clyde & Co—Nick Roberts

Aviation disputes practice strengthened by London partner hire

Ellisons—Marion Knocker

Ellisons—Marion Knocker

Residential property lawyer promoted to partnership

NEWS
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NLJ this week: Renters’ Rights revolution begins—brace for tribunal chaos
he abolition of assured shorthold tenancies and section 21 evictions marks the beginning of a ‘brave new world’ for England’s rental sector, writes Daniel Bacon of Seddons GSC
NLJ this week: Civil procedure gets a spring overhaul
Stephen Gold’s latest Civil Way column rounds up a flurry of procedural and regulatory changes reshaping housing, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and personal injury litigation
NLJ this week: Why GP complaints are going nowhere
Patients are being systematically failed by an NHS complaints regime that is opaque, poorly enforced and often stacked against them, argues Charles Davey of The Barrister Group
NLJ this week: Prenups meet a jurisdictional brick wall
A wealthy Russian divorce battle has produced a sharp warning about trying to challenge foreign nuptial agreements in the wrong English court. Writing in NLJ this week, Vanessa Friend and Robert Jackson of Hodge Jones & Allen examine Timokhin v Timokhina, where the High Court enforced Russian judgments arising from a prenuptial agreement despite arguments based on the landmark Radmacher decision
NLJ this week: Has Rylands v Fletcher come back from the dead?
An obscure Victorian tort may be heading for an unexpected revival after a significant Privy Council ruling that could reshape liability for dangerous escapes, according to Richard Buckley, barrister and emeritus professor of law at the University of Reading
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