How ILEX members are helping other people through their
Pro Bono work
Philip Warford
Philip Warford
a Brighton legal executive was awarded the ILEX 2009 Pro Bono
Medal.
Philip was honoured by ILEX in recognition of the outstanding level
of work he has undertaken for charities, such as the mental health
charity MENCAP and Age Concern over the past year, and for his
commitment to raising money for charities and helping individuals
with unpaid legal advice.
Tony
Dolbear
Tony
Dolbear, a Legal Executive Fellow with the Bournemouth law firm of
Horsey Lightly Fynn, was one of the founder members of the
Bournemouth & Poole Pro Bono Service. For the last 20 years, he
has given unstinting service as a member of the ILEX Bournemouth
Branch Committee, as a mentor to students and as a pro bono advisor
to a number of charities.
Tony has been a key member of the team that recognised the need
for local voluntary and community groups to have access to legal
advice, which led to the creation of Bournemouth and Poole Pro
Bono. Since its creation, he has continued to be staunch supporter
and key volunteer.
On a personal level as a volunteer, he has acted in a pro bono
capacity for a local charity that provides care, support and
development to recovering drug addicts as well as a local Community
Centre on debt recovery.
In 2008 he won the Pro Bono Award.
Alison Scammell ad Kelly
Gitsom
Alison, a Legal Executive lawyer with Brain Sinnott & Co in
Kingswood and Kelly, a Legal Executive lawyer with Foster &
Partners, also in Kingswood, are Trustees of the local charity
‘Survive’ that offers help and support to survivors of domestic
violence in South Gloucestershire and Bristol.
This includes accommodation in refuges, outreach and
resettlement support, a dedicated team for children and young
people and support and education groups. Combined, these services
provide safe housing, practical and emotional support, advocacy,
information and onward referral through group and individual
settings.
As well as acting as Trustees for the charity, Alison and Kelly
provide legal advice and help to women who want to escape from
domestic violence. They are also members of the local Domestic
Violence Forum, which brings together a number of organisations in
the area, including the police and social services to exchange
ideas and to ensure a common approach to problem solving and
planning in this sensitive area.
Alison says they are just a small part of a dedicated team who
are there to help anyone who find themselves in a violent
situation at home. “Hundreds of women every day have to suffer at
the hands of violent or abusive partners but they don’t have to put
up with the situation and help is available. Thankfully, more
people are becoming aware of the impact of domestic abuse and the
number of adults and children that it affects.”
Dawn
Slow
Dawn, a Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives, has been
involved in community Pro Bono work for more than 10 years, most
recently becoming a volunteer at the Leicester Law Centre where she
now provides free legal advice at a regular evening surgery. In her
day job Dawn deals with personal injury and clinical negligence and
specialises in head injuries.
She found that that Leicester been sadly lacking in
support groups for children with head injuries and their families,
the nearest support group being in Birmingham.
Dawn succeeded in having a Family Support Group launched in
Leicester in 2006 year through the Child Brain Injury Trust, after
researching all the possible charities. Dawn was personally behind
the launch event and gathering support for the initiative, and
remains actively involved, providing advice to families and acting
as secretary to the group.
In 2006 she won the ILEX Pro Bono Award in recognition of her
commitment to community legal work for children with brain
injuries.
Faizal
Essat
Faizal Essat is a Legal Executive
Fellow specialising in Personal Injury Litigation and Commercial
Dispute Resolution at Andersons Solicitors in Nottingham. He is an
ILEX Advocate. He has a genuine care and concern in helping others
and has extensive experience working with faith and community
groups in Leicester. Faizal is recognised in the community for not
only providing a quality legal service, but also for demonstrating
genuine care and concern in helping others. He also works closely
with the media to help raise the profile of projects close to his
heart. In 2005 he won the ILEX Pro Bono Award for his work with the
Muslim Burial Council of Leicestershire.
Carol Simmons 
Carol Simmons is committed to helping others. She is involved in
assisting those working in one of the most difficult and sensitive
legal environments, Iraq.
Carol has been involved in the Middle East for many years and a
frequent visitor to Iraq. She assists an organisation connected to
UNICEF that runs a Children’s Drop in Centre in a city in Northern
Iraq. Iraqi police have been arresting young street children and
many are held without legal advice, as children under the age of 18
are not entitled to a defence lawyer.
The concept of the adversarial system is difficult for Iraqis to
understand, the UK concept of a care system is new to many and
abuse rarely discussed.
The first task has been to understand the legal complexities,
find common ground and produce a simple booklet on children’s
rights under Iraqi law that can be made available to local police,
teachers and social workers and then embark on training Iraqi
lawyers, with the aim of growing a stable system to protect
children in the area.
Working in a male dominated society, Carol has been remarkably
successful in persuading authorities that this work needs to be
undertaken. Still in the early stages this projects promises much
to help the children of Northern Iraq. Carol was Highly Commended
in the ILEX Awards 2007 for her work.
Michael McGhie, Victoria Martin, Doug Chisholm - Bury
Law Centre
It has been just three years since the Bury Law Centre
successfully opened its doors for business. Three Manchester-based
Legal Executive Fellows have been involved with the Pro Bono Clinic
there since its opening.
At the time the Centre was being proposed the Institute of Legal
Executives was encouraging members in the area to consider pro bono
work and all three went along to the original meeting for the
Centre to find out more, as they all were interested in getting
involved in pro bono work.
They have all found the experience working at the Centre both
challenging and uplifting with a wide range of clients and cases
where advice is needed. Michael McGhie says,” Feedback received by
the Law Centre has been generally positive and what started
modestly has continued into a third year with every intention of
continuing.”
“There is a solicitor in charge of the Law Centre who's there to
provide support each evening although, in my experience, we are
left very much to get on with things, asking for advice where
necessary.”
All three are very keen to continue their work and the Law
Centre is now embarking on further training for advisers in debt,
welfare benefits.
Keith Barrett
ILEX Council member and personal injury lawyer, Keith Barrett is
a good example of the value that Legal Executives can provide to
the community through Pro Bono work.
Keith is an associate director (which is partner level) at the
London law firm, Irwin Mitchell. Keith has handled 17 cases
referred by the London Bombings Legal Helpline on a pro bono basis,
more than any other lawyer, and secured the victims more than £1
million through the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority
(CICA).
Keith is now lobbying the authority to relax CICA’s two-year
limitation rule for those whose claims may only have developed over
time – such as people with post-traumatic stress disorder who may
have received a payout from the London Bombings Relief Charitable
Fund, but have since had to leave their jobs because of their
condition and may have suffered a loss of earnings.
He says his work for victims of the bombings is a good example
of why legal executives are so well placed to offer pro bono work.
When his firm Irwin Mitchell signed up to the helpline, they asked
him to spearhead the work. ‘The reason I was chosen was because I
was a specialist. And I’m a specialist because I’m a legal
executive,’ he says.
Paddy Willmer
Paddy Willmer is a Legal Executive lawyer specialising in family
law at Reynolds & Hawkes in Bletchley, near Milton Keynes, a
small firm is made up of just three lawyers. Since 2002 he has been
a trustee of the Bedfordshire Advocacy Service for Older People,
but has had to do it in his own time due – at one point trustee
meetings were held in the evenings so that he could attend.
All those involved in pro bono attest to the benefits they get
out of it personally. ‘I would recommend it,’ says Paddy Willmer.
‘There are lots of little charities all over the place and they’re
struggling for trustees. On a personal level, it’s very
rewarding.’