Host a fellowship
We recognise that communities need experienced and committed social welfare lawyers to ensure that the law works for all. We do not believe that standard legal training meets this need and so in 2014 we formed the Justice First Fellowship.
Our goal was simple: to match talented trainees who were committed to tackling injustice with innovative, social justice legal teams who could provide them with the practical skills and knowledge they needed to become a successful social justice lawyer.
“People just don’t know about the social justice work. [They’re] going through university and their whole idea of the law is corporate and business focused. The work we do is so rewarding and you help people that just aren’t able to get that help elsewhere. So the more people that are brought into the sector through the fellowship, and the more people realise the help they can provide through the fellowship, the better.”
— Owen McCloskey, Law Centre Northern Ireland
Could you host a fellow?
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We are looking for hosts that work closely with the communities they serve and are dedicated to ensuring greater access to justice. Further, you should be experts in your area of social justice law.
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What makes this training different is that our fellows get the chance to create and run their own project aimed at increasing access to justice. You will get to support the design and implementation of this project to make sure that it meets your organisation’s needs and priorities.
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Your organisation should already have a strong training ethos and offer an inclusive and supportive working environment for fellows. Finally, you will need to meet the requirements set out by the relevant regulatory authority to supervise a trainee solicitor.
Hosting partnerships
While we expect to mainly partner with legal organisations, we will consider joint applications from community and legal organisations. These are usually where organisations with legal expertise partner with those which have specialist knowledge perhaps in campaigning or policy.
We would usually expect the lead applicant to be the organisation which oversees and signs off the legal supervision and training for a fellow.
Our offer
“The fellowship was designed as an attempt to give new legal aid lawyers a broader training and a broader perspective so that they were actively working towards securing their own funding for the future and learning and understanding how important bringing the money in is.”
— Denise McDowell, Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit
Our grant award will cover:
- All costs of employing a fellow over two years, including salary, national insurance, pension contribution and associated supervision and support costs although private firms are expected to cover their own supervision costs
- The costs of the fellow’s mandatory professional training
- A contribution to any additional training and IT set-up.
Hosts go on to become part of a wider cohort of social justice organisations who have trained fellows, creating a valuable network of innovative legal organisations.
We also offer hosts training and peer support sessions on topics including fundraising, project management and supervision best practice.