Do you want to help fund much needed freeline free legal advice agencies?
When: Tuesday 17th June
Timing: 3pm - 7pm
Team fundraising goal: £2500
The London Legal Walk brings together law firms, barrister chambers, corporations and organizations, like JRS UK, to walk 10km across London, all to raise funds for not-for-profit and legal aid providers. JRS UK will be walking in support of its own in-house legal service.
Want to walk with us? Email Fiona, Senior Fundraising Officer, at fiona.oteng@jrs.net
“Being an asylum seeker, you are constantly faced with uncertainty. Working with JRS UK was great, I really felt like Mike (Senior Legal Caseworker) had my back. He is an amazing man and really helped to reassure my anxieties.”
“Before registering with JRS, I didn’t have any access to legal aid or solicitors. I tried my best. I called up all the firms, but no one could provide me with someone to take my case. I got section 95 support but there were no solicitors to help take on my case. I had to go to my substantive interview alone which was difficult with no representation”
A refugee friend who was granted Leave-To-Remain earlier this year shared his experience of the Legal Aid Crisis
The money you raise will go directly to JRS’ Legal Aid project. Since 2019, the JRS UK Legal Aid Project has been delivering free legal advice and representation to our refugee friends who are fighting to resolve their immigration status and rebuild their lives in the UK.
JRS UK relies upon donations from individuals to support our legal services with Appeals Rights Exhausted (ARE) refugee friends and asylum seekers. Our Legal Aid project provides free, high quality legal advice and representation for our refugee friends. Without secure immigration status, the refugees we support are destitute: they are unable to work, access government financial support, rent or open a bank account. However, our work adds capacity and significant value to the under-resourced legal advice sector. For example, of the last 60 refugee friends we registered at JRS, 44 had no representation at all.
We know that being granted secure immigration status can be a long and difficult journey for our refugee friends. That is why the Legal Project also focuses on empowering refugee friends on that journey by improving their understanding of their legal rights. We run expert legal rights workshops for refugee friends on immigration enforcement powers, the asylum process and how legal aid and legal representation should work in practice.
The event was beautifully organised by the London Legal Support Trust, providing assistance on every corner – with stewards wearing brightly coloured hats and foam fingers ensuring we didn’t get lost; , and offering water and juice for walkers at the starting point so we didn’t get dehydrated
Will
It was fantastic to see so many people out walking – standing together in solidarity and walking for justice. Amidst so much hostility, I was left with a real sense of hope and a renewed fight for justice. And, the feeling of achievement when we crossed that 10KM marker after almost 4 hours was amazing!!
Reham