July 2013

British and Irish Legal Information Institute

Access to Freely Available British and Irish Public Legal Information The British and Irish Legal Information Institute (BAILII), a charitable trust, provides access to the most comprehensive, free and up-to-date collection of British and Irish primary legal materials (currently thirty seven gigabytes) on the Internet. Why free? BAILII is founded on the simple premise that all citizens (who are deemed to “know the law”) have the fundamental right to free access to all primary legal source materials in as comprehensive and comprehensible a form as possible.  It aims to provide via the Internet the texts of legislation, decisions of courts and tribunals, law reform reports and similar materials which ought to be available for free public access, hyperlinked for ease of cross-reference and intelligently searchable.  The role of the Institute includes encouraging parliaments, governments, courts, tribunals, law reform bodies and other public institutions to make the legal materials which they control available free via the Internet.  BAILII is also involved in promoting standards for the publishing of such legal materials.  It is part of a growing network of such Legal Information Institutes that form a worldwide free public law library.

Who uses BAILII?

BAILII delivers over 5 gigabytes per weekday to its users. BAILII has a broad user community, including educational institutions, the legal profession and business, the general public, government, and overseas users.

Who funds BAILII?

BAILII, based at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies in London, Ireland at University College Cork and in Northern Ireland at Queen’s University Belfast is incorporated as a charitable company registered in the UK. The trustees are members of the judiciary, lawyers and academics. Funded by the generous sponsorship of the legal professions, charities, public bodies, law firms, legal publishers, multinational companies, university faculties and individuals,  Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service is also a source of funds. Primary materials: BAILII includes 70 databases covering 7 jurisdictions including decisions of the House of Lords and the Privy Council; the Court of Appeal and the High Court of England and Wales; the Irish Supreme Court; the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal, Crown Court and High Court of Justice; Scottish Court of Session and High Court; numerous tribunals; the Court of Justice of the European Communities, and the European Court of Human Rights. BAILII also has full-text of legislation, as assented to, from Ireland, Northern Ireland, and the United Kingdom. Secondary materials:  BAILII has a substantial collection of Law Commission Reports and Consultation Papers, plus publications of the Scottish Law Commission, Irish Law Reform Commission, Northern Ireland Law Reform Advisory Committee and Northern Ireland Office of Law Reform. Open Law Project: Through the JISC-funded Open Law Project, in collaboration with academics, librarians, and special interest groups such as the Society of Legal Scholars and through review of subject syllabi, BAILII compiled lists of leading cases in 16 subject areas.  Over 2,400 of these cases are available on BAILII. World Law:  BAILII contributes to WorldLII which catalogues and makes searchable via LawCite hundreds of selected British and Irish as well as overseas law sites. BAILII’s home page links to twenty-one Legal Information Institutes and world law resources. BAILII Office: Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (IALS), 17 Russell Square, London WC1B 5DR General contact: joe.ury@sas.ac.uk Mr Joe Ury- Executive Director, Mr. Roger Burton West - System Administrator / Developer, Viky Martzoukou - Project Officer; all are based at IALS. Please feel free to duplicate and distribute this article. Copies may also be obtained from BAILII.

BAILII Office:

Institute of Advanced Legal Studies

17 Russell Square

London WC1B 5DR

Email: joe.ury@sas.ac.uk

LawWorks supports a network of free legal advice clinics in England and Wales. Support provided through clinics is characterised as early intervention in areas of social welfare law – benefits, employment, housing, debt etc. LawWorks training is a crucial plank in the clinics network. Many lawyers who volunteer at clinics specialise in different areas of law, but their general legal knowledge equips them to provide real value in free legal advice clinics.

Training provides two essential added benefits:

1. The confidence to provide advice in an unfamiliar setting, and


2. The skill to recognise where referral for further, specialist in-depth legal advice is required

LawWorks training provides 40 free sessions a year in social welfare law to member firms and volunteers at free legal advice clinics. These seminars are available through podcasts over the internet as well as face to face and are CPD accredited. They are highly valued by members and provide a cost effective method of ensuring that a generation of lawyers are learning broad based legal skills to build on their existing knowledge in order to effect social change. Training also includes practical advice skills and other areas specific to particular projects and services. Feedback from training courses is used to direct future training programmes and ensure that legal needs of those seeking help are addressed. LawWorks trainers provide these sessions pro bono and member firms provide training venues at their premises free of charge.

LawWorks free training is available among others to solicitors who are unemployed or taking a career break and thus helps keep their skills up-to-date and enables them to re-enter the profession in a paid capacity. These members (through the Choices membership scheme) in turn volunteer their legal skills to people and charities in need of free legal advice.

The grant from the Legal Education Foundation will allow LawWorks to produce twenty online training videos during 2013.

Contact Rebecca Hilsenrath (CEO) by phone on 020 7092 3956 or by email at rebecca.hilsenrath@lawworks.org.uk

SUTTON TRUST NEWS RELEASE

NEW FUNDING EXTENDS LEGAL ACCESS PROGRAMME 'PATHWAYS TO LAW' TO 12 NEW UNIVERSITIES

Following today's official launch of The Legal Education Foundation (TLEF, formerly The College of Law, www.thelegaleducationfoundation.org), the Sutton Trust confirmed the TLEF's grant to Pathways to Law will enable it to extend its legal access programme to 12 new universities over the next four years. For the first time, Oxford University joins the programme, with Exeter and Essex universities, together with University of Nottingham in partnership with Nottingham Law School, Nottingham Trent University.  These new partners will join the seven existing Pathways universities to provide 1200 places over the next four years. The 12 universities have been announced following a tender process. TLEF is the largest single funder of Pathways, but a third of delivery costs is met by Universities. It is also financially supported by the Law Society and a number of law firms which provide sponsorship: Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, DLA Piper, Eversheds, Hogan Lovells, Linklaters and Mayer Brown. In addition, over 20 more firms also supply invaluable work placements to Pathways students. Phase 3 of Pathways will bring greater regional coverage for the scheme, which continues to be the biggest access initiative for the legal profession. Targeting of students will also be tighter and new mechanisms to monitor and evaluate the programme's impact are being put in place.  Recruitment will begin after the summer. The full list of the phase 3 Pathways to Law universities is:

• University of Bristol
• University College London
• University of Essex
• University of Exeter
• University of Leeds
• London School of Economics and Political Science
• University of Manchester
• University of Nottingham in partnership with Nottingham Law School, Nottingham Trent University
• University of Oxford
• University of Southampton
• University of Warwick

Sir Peter Lampl, chairman of the Sutton Trust and of the Education Endowment Foundation, said: "We are delighted with the interest we have had in the next phase of Pathways which is a reflection of the great reputation the programme has built up over the last six years. We are pleased to welcome five universities in joining the seven already in the programme. “Pathways continues to be a great way for the profession to nurture and support talent it would not otherwise reach. We are very grateful to The Legal Education Foundation and the law firms which are supporting this next phase." Guy Beringer, chairman of The Legal Education Foundation, commented: "This is an important time for the legal sector. There are increased pressures on access to justice, access to the legal profession and access to legal education. These pressures affect the public as well as students of law and legal practitioners. We want the Foundation to support the many innovative and creative projects which are responding to these pressures." For further information, please contact Ellie Decamp or Conor Ryan at the Sutton Trust on 020 7802 1660 NOTES TO EDITORS 1. The Sutton Trust is a foundation set up in 1997, dedicated to improving social mobility through education. It has published 135 research studies and funded and evaluated programmes that have helped hundreds of thousands of young people of all ages, from early years through to Access to the Professions. 2. The Legal Education Foundation was set up to promote the advancement of legal education and the study of law. It was created in 2012 with the monies received from the sale of The College of Law.  For more information see www.thelegaleducationfoundation.org 3. The current phase of Pathways to Law is delivered by seven Russell group universities – Bristol, Leeds, the London School of Economics & Political Science, Manchester, Southampton, University College London and Warwick - with support from over 30 law firms, including sponsor firms Allen and Overy, Clifford Chance, DLA Piper, Eversheds, Hogan Lovells, Linklaters and Mayer Brown, plus the Law Society. It is managed and funded by the Sutton Trust and The Legal Education Foundation (TLEF) and supplemented by donations from firms and organisations within the legal profession. 4. 95% of those taking part in Pathways to Law in recent years have been first generation students whose parents had not been to university. The programme is open to low and middle income state school students, but 66% are from low performing schools and 29% live in the poorest postcodes. Half of the Pathways students gain places at leading universities.

Advocacy Training Council

The Advocate’s Gateway: Vulnerable Persons’ Programme

The Advocacy Training Council (ATC) is a Council established by Council of the Inns of Court (COIC) which is the co-ordinating body of the four Inns of Court.  It is a leading centre for advocacy and advocacy training worldwide; providing leadership, guidance and co-ordination in relation to the pursuit of excellence in advocacy. The ATC draws its membership primarily from the Inns and circuits but also from the Judiciary, Employed Bar, BPTC Providers, academia, Bar Council and others.  The ATC’s work centres on barriers to justice and access to justice and its current work includes research & development projects in Expert Witnesses, Ethics and also Linguistic Barriers for Advocates and The Advocate’s Gateway. The Advocate’s Gateway, designed to improve the way that the trial process works in relation to vulnerable persons, gives free access to practical, evidence-based guidance on vulnerable witnesses and defendants.  The Gateway is a project which brings together the entirety of the legal profession, communication experts, leading researchers, academics and other professionals with an interest in the area.  As such, much of the work of the ATC is as a public interest platform stimulating research into issues of real and pressing public importance. The Advocate’s Gateway aims to ensure that all advocates are effectively equipped to handle vulnerable people in court, whether they are witnesses or defendants, and whether they are vulnerable owing to youth, a mental health diagnosis or special educational needs.  It provides easy access to guidance for working with people with communication needs. The funding from LEF will enable three further toolkits for The Advocate’s Gateway to be developed:

• Communicating at court with witnesses and defendants with mental illness
• Use of remote live-link for witnesses.
• Screening for vulnerability in witnesses and defendants.

For more information contact: Beth Philips BPhillips@innertemple.org.uk www.advocacytrainingcouncil.org www.theadvocatesgateway.org Secretariat Advocacy Training Council 1st Floor 2 King's Bench Walk Temple London EC4Y 7DE Tel: 020 7438 2389

"To promote the advancement of legal education and the study of law in all its branches".

- First 6 grant recipients announced - Calling for applications LONDON – Today The Legal Education Foundation (LEF) will celebrate its official launch with the announcement of its first [6] grants.  The Foundation is the charity established following the sale of the College of Law last year.  With a capital endowment of approximately £200 million, it will be one of the largest foundations in the sector. Today it announces its first 6 grants:

• Advocacy Training Council  (training advocates to deal with vulnerable witnesses)
• Galleries of Justice (using historical legal buildings to teach children about law)
• British and Irish Legal Information Institute, BAILII (providing free access to law reports on the internet)
• Law Centre Network (legal advice for those who are unable to pay for it)
• LawWorks (to support, promote and encourage a commitment to pro bono work)
• Pathways Phase 3 (encouraging young people from less socially advantaged backgrounds to enter the law)

LEF Chairman, Guy Beringer said: "This is an important time for the legal sector. There are increased pressures on access to justice, access to the legal profession and access to legal education. These pressures affect the public as well as students of law and legal practitioners. “We want the Foundation to support the many innovative and creative projects which are responding to these pressures.  As today’s announcement shows, the Foundation will seek to support a wide variety of organisations and will cast its net widely to cover all forms of legal education in many different social, professional and academic settings. “Our next application deadline is October.  We face our own challenge of raising awareness of the Foundation and the breadth of its remit.  I hope this launch will help get the message out to a wide variety of organisations to get in touch.” Details of the grant application process are on the website https://thelegaleducationfoundation.org/  Projects the Foundation are interested in supporting include:

• Filling gaps in the provision of legal education at academic and professional level
• Innovation in the structure and delivery of teaching at academic and professional level
• The development of public and civic legal education
• The advancement of mobility and diversity initiatives which provide access to employment in the profession
• Thought leadership and research related to the development and structure of academic and professional legal education

Nicholas Green QC, Chairman, Advocacy Training Council:  “This will enable us to make a real contribution to access to justice and the development of fairer and more effective trial procedures in the crucial area of vulnerable witnesses.  The ATC’s on-going collaborative projects in relation to vulnerable witnesses and defendants, and the development of The Advocate’s Gateway, have been given added momentum by the Foundation’s grant”. Julie Bishop, Director, Law Centres Network: “We are delighted to have been awarded this grant to provide training to Law Centre staff. Like the rest of the profession, they need to update their knowledge and skills continuously to ensure they provide an excellent service so some of the most vulnerable members of the community can enforce their rights. “The grant has come at exactly the right time as the Ministry of Justice has cut funding for training. It is needed all the more now, with major changes to legal aid being implemented and charitable funding becoming tighter. We will be able to enhance its value through leverage of in kind contributions from legal firms.” --ends-- For further information, please contact Kathryn Adamson, 07717133595, Kathryn@legalcomms.com Notes to editors: The Legal Education Foundation, a charitable foundation dedicated to the advancement of legal education and the study of law, was created in 2012 with the monies received from the sale of the education and training business of the College of Law ("the College"). The College can trace its origins back to the 1870s from which time it has consistently delivered student focussed teaching and learning to meet the ever increasing demands for legal services. Over the years, the College has adapted to ensure that it is able to meet the needs of the diverse legal and student communities and further the advancement of legal education. Originally operating within the private sector as a partnership under the name Gibson and Weldon, in 1962 the business was merged with the Law Society School of Law to become a charity operating under the title The College of Law. In 1975, the College obtained a Royal Charter and in 1996 the Charter was amended to place the College on a self-governing basis with the Law Society relinquishing the right to appoint governors. In 2006, the College became the first non-public sector entity to obtain taught degree awarding powers (“TDAPs”), having met the exacting criteria in terms of governance and academic management; academic standards and quality assurance; scholarship and pedagogical effectiveness of academic staff and the environment supporting the delivery of taught programmes. In November 2012, the work of the College was recognised when the Minister of State for Universities and Science agreed that the College could change its name to the University of Law. The education and training business of the College has never received Higher Education Funding Council (“HEFCE”) funds. It has always been dependent solely on its own resources to finance its development and growth. Following a major strategic review which concluded in 2012, the Governors resolved to sell the education and training business of the College and to devote the monies received to create a foundation to further its charitable objective.

The Law Centres Network

The Law Centres Network (LCN) strives for a just and equal society where everyone’s rights are valued and protected. We do this by supporting a national network of over fifty Law Centres in England and Wales that work with some of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged people in society. LCN is the national voice of Law Centres and their clients, representing them at all levels of government and in various national forums. We support our member Law Centres with practical help and advice, training and fundraising, initiating new services and championing the model of free, independent legal advice and representation. LCN is a registered charity and is run by a small staff team answerable to a board of trustees drawn mostly from our member Law Centres.

More than the sum of its parts

While Law Centres are independent, they are committed to working collaboratively to share their expertise and resources, identify trends and co-ordinate responses. LCN is the vehicle that allows this to happen and to make sure the national network is more than the sum of its parts. LCN

• arranges regular meetings, training workshops and conferences
• produces a weekly e-bulletin for Law Centres and provides telephone conferencing facilities
• ensures that Law Centres get the most from their scarce resources by arranging bulk deals for purchasing insurance, legal resources etc. at reduced cost
• provides practical support and consultancy to Law Centres with attracting new funding, public relations, meeting funders’ requirements and developing new services
• gathers information from Law Centres to feed into national policy making

Law Centres may share staff or run joint services, such as Bradford and Leeds Law Centres’ new housing advice service. They also work together on test cases. Membership of LCN ensures that Law Centres are committed to shared values and a code of practice.

Case study – LCN’s Protocols Project

In response to evidence from Law Centres and media stories of 16-17 year olds being forced to live in tents and caves despite an important court case that established their rights, LCN’s Young People’s Programme is working with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP to review  Local Authority protocols to see if they are in line with statutory guidance about young people. We found that many protocols do not adequately guarantee that the correct processes are being followed to ensure that 16 and 17 year old homeless young people are provided with the support they are entitled to. We will be using our findings to work with Local Authorities, other stakeholders and young people themselves to promote good practice and ensure that Local Authorities respond more effectively to the needs of homeless young people.

What Law Centres do

Law Centres are community-based, not-for-profit legal practices. Since the 1970s they have been offering free, quality assured legal advice, casework and representation in social welfare law to individuals and groups. Social welfare problems, such as debt, employment, housing or welfare benefits can affect anyone. If left unresolved they can have serious consequences, stressful for the client and expensive for the taxpayer.

Who Law Centres help

Of Law Centres’ clients

• 53% are women
• 79.5% have a non-white ethnic background
• 99.5% earn less than £25,000
• 62% earn less than £15,000
• They have a highly than national average rate of living with disability
• They have low educational attainment
• They have low levels of literacy
• Higher than national average of people under 25
• Many have mental health and substance abuse problems

Contact us

Law Centres Network, 64 Great Eastern Street, London EC2A 3QR Tel. 020 7749 9120