November 2018

Grant to support LAG's Business Plan

Grant: £30,000
November 28, 2018

LAG is currently implementing a business plan to transform the business/charity by using technology to make available LAG's content available through digital channels.

Advancing the rule of law on equality and human rights

Grant: £68,755
November 14, 2018

The loss of this underpinning due to Brexit puts equality and human rights at risk – in law and in practice. This project will address this by advancing the rule of law on equality and human rights in the two key areas of replacing EU funding and legislative change

CHALKY LAW CHAT

Grant: £74,320
November 14, 2018

CLC, have developed a prototype digital solution to address the unmet legal needs of children - a non-linear Chatbot built through Google’s DialogFlow using natural language programming to provide accessible legal information to young people in response to basic legal queries.

The Prototype, focusing on 3 areas of law – Employment, Homelessness, FAQs on At What Age Can I.

Over 12 months the Project will develop the Chatbot to:

• Add additional areas of law
• Further develop/ refine the technology, functionality and natural language capacity through increasing the range of channels e.g. Skype and You Tube
• Have a low key “launch” enabling wider market testing
• Plan full launch in early 2020
• Undertake further business planning and fundraising to enable scaling of the project

The long-term vision is to add a “Live Chat” function supported by volunteer lawyers/legal students to provide advice “out of hours”.

Brexit, Devolution and Civil Society (Conference).

Grant: £21,000
November 14, 2018

The project will be a two-day event held in Belfast for around 80 guests.

The event will include participants from across the devolved nations.Its objective is to strengthen civil society’s voice on the Brexit process so that their needs and concerns influence Brexit decision-making and related developments.

FixMyBlock: An advice and reporting system for tower block residents

Grant: £46,315
November 14, 2018

Tower blocks are subject to a range of safety and maintenance issues, which, if not identified and dealt with properly and at an early stage, can potentially be life-threatening.

Residents must be at the heart of the system for managing and improving the safety of tower blocks – yet they are often unaware of their legal rights, and lack the capacity and resources to exercise these rights and make their voices heard.

To address this, mySociety and Shift Design will collaborate with the Tower Blocks UK project to build a new online service, adapted from mySociety’s FixMyStreet platform, that will:

• Provide information to residents on their rights and the law.
• Enable residents to report issues directly to the property manager (including safety, maintenance and repair issues).
• Provide advice on how to take further action should the issues not be resolved.

Valuing Legal Volunteers

Grant: £31,500
November 14, 2018

This project aims to:

1. Increase the number of Unit panel members taking at least one pro bono case yearly by 10%; increasing the number of LIPs we help.
2. Increase barristers’ understanding of the value of pro bono and awareness of the difference they can make to ordinary people’s lives.
3. Inspire the 75 students volunteering each year as Casework Volunteers to be advocates of pro bono work throughout their future career
4. Ensure Unit panel members and reviewers who stop volunteering continue to educate others and champion access to justice.

Law Centres 2020 Digital Vision Phase 3

Grant: £257,210
November 14, 2018

This project transforms the digital infrastructure of Law Centres. It establishes a minimum standard for digital equipment and systems across the network that enables Law Centres to:

• be ready for online courts;
• improve client and office administration;
• assist clients in new ways with digital tools;
• participate in digital initiatives and respond to digital offers;
• collect robust data that allows Law Centres and the Network to identify and respond to trends, and provide accurate evidence of the impact of Law Centres work.

Affordable advice and digital justice

Grant: £73,775
November 14, 2018

This partnership project by Law for Life and Resolution proposes an innovative approach to providing affordable legal advice to separating couples. It harnesses the expertise and strong track records of the two organisations, pioneering new ways of working to support separating families.

The pilot presents a unique opportunity for Law for Life to partner with the leading membership organisation for family justice professionals who are committed to offering affordable access to legal advice. Since the introduction of LASPO 2012, legal aid is not provided in most areas of family law, including early advice. Early advice is no longer available for issues such as family breakdown, divorce and child arrangements. Familial disputes - such as those regarding child arrangements - can escalate to court unnecessarily. These often result in more complex and costly legal proceedings, which ultimately have a more negative impact on families, and particularly children.

Support to scope and develop a full project proposal to addressing IWA Governance Policy Group priorities

Grant: £16,450
November 14, 2018

This project’s aim is to resource the IWA to scope out a fully costed project proposal focussing on two key priorities,

• strengthening inter-parliamentary relations post Brexit
• mapping governance structures in Wales and contributing to shaping local government reform.

The scope will include identifying collaborative work with IWA’s Education Policy and Media Policy groups, and developing partnerships in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland and Europe.

Promoting Not-for-Profit Management and Governance

Grant: £70,000
November 14, 2018

This project is to support Not for profit advice providers to improve their management and governance capacity and expertise by:

• Continuing to facilitate their involvement in the LAPG CPM, by subsidising the costs of attending the course.
• Enabling Justice First Fellows to attend sessions that meet their individual development needs
• Delivering a workshop programme tailored to the needs of NfPs, with a particular focus on management and governance issues.
• Facilitating consultation arrangements with proven experts to integrate new ideas and best practice, as identified by NfPs through their involvement in the tailored workshop programme,

By offering a combination of workshop and online learning, back-up by targeted, expert assistance, it is planned to overcome the skills and resource deficit that hampers the development and undermines the sustainability of many NfP advice providers.