Case study: Coram Children's Legal Centre

Coram Children’s Legal Centre (CCLC) have hosted two Justice First Fellows since 2015 and are currently recruiting their third. CCLC are specialists in the areas of immigration and asylum, community care, public law, family and education law. They use a combination of approaches including advice, complex and specialist casework and strategic litigation to promote and protect the rights of children in the UK and internationally.

At Coram Children’s Legal Centre (CCLC) we are committed to supporting the next generation of legal aid and social justice lawyers and being part of the Justice First Fellowship (JFF) has allowed us to do just that.

As an organisation that has existed for many years, we have seen how challenging it is to recruit and retain lawyers into social justice law. Academic legal training is not particularly focused on this area, and given the financial constraints in the legal aid sector it can be challenging for organisations to properly invest time and resources in training and developing staff. Hosting fellows allows us to expand our own capacity and that of the sector through funding these traineeships.

Whatever fellows go on to do through their career, they qualify having gained excellent training and experience as social justice lawyers, benefiting the wider sector. Through sector networks we have seen examples of work by fellows within other organisations where they have supported research, strategic litigation, briefing papers and conference planning. 

Over the years we have learned from the experience of hosting a fellow, and LEF have really listened and worked with us to streamline the experience for the fellow and us as a host organisation. 

The funding and support provided through JFF has given us the space and opportunity to carefully consider how we plan our training. We have developed tools such as training plans and end of seat appraisals templates. We have learnt from the experience and feedback of previous fellows, reducing the number of seats from four to two or three depending on particular interest and supervisory capacity. This helps ensure fellows experience a substantial stretch of time in each area of law and fully develop their skills and depth of experience.

It has also helped us to identify areas for development and growth. For example, after having a fellow carry out a seat in our family law team, we realised we have the capacity, skills and need for ongoing casework support and we now have a permanent paralegal position.

CCLC has benefitted enormously from being part of a network of host organisations, where we have shared best practice for supporting trainees and learnt about other organisations’ challenges and how they have addressed them.

Our fellows have also found the ready-made network of like-minded peers they gain through the fellowship to be an invaluable source of support, knowledge and information sharing. They have gained broader experience and understanding of the sector through involvement in the project, away days and residentials. This means that upon qualification they have more rounded experience which in turn benefits the sector. 

LEF are very responsive, always willing to provide more information and answer questions and concerns, so we would encourage any organisation interested in hosting a fellow to get in touch with the team at LEF to find out more.

Once you become a JFF host, planning is everything. If you set aside dedicated time to support your fellow, the benefits are excellent! Consider early on what specialist training your organisation can offer fellows and think about how to provide a broad range of experience. Proactively planning in supervisory capacity will also be helpful.

Lastly, support your fellow with their social justice project from the start. Regular check-ins and guidance will help them stay on track and develop a project that will not only expand their experience and skills but benefit your organisation too.