Solicitors highlight vital importance of free legal support for people unable to pay fees
May 17, 2018
Sure-footed solicitors from the Cardinal Hume Centre are this week preparing to join the Lord Chief Justice and thousands of other legal professionals for the annual sponsored London Legal Walk event on Monday 21 May. The participants will walk 10k through the capital to raise money for the Cardinal Hume Centre and more than 100 other organisations across London and the South East, who provide vital free or pro bono legal for people who have low income or no income and cannot afford the fees.
The Cardinal Hume Centre's immigration advice team provide free accredited legal advice and representation to help migrants get or extend their right to remain in the UK. Their work is central to the charity's mission to help people overcome poverty and the threat of homelessness. All clients advised by our solicitors regularly experience extreme financial hardship as their lack of status prevents them from working in the UK or accessing welfare benefits. Demand for our services is rising and last year alone our solicitors opened 268 new immigration advice cases.
Debbie Adler, Immigration Services Manager at the Centre says: Our solicitors passionately believe that everyone should have access to justice. Every single day we support migrants living in abject poverty due to their lack of status. As they have no way of paying the legal fees attached to getting or extending their right to remain in the UK, we are quite literally a lifeline for them. Our team is really looking forward to taking part in this years' London Legal Walk. It's fantastic to be surrounded by so many others who are so keen to raise awareness of, and funds for, the work that we and other organisations do to help people in need. More than 12,000 people took on the London Legal Walk last year, raising a record-breaking £800,000.
To sponsor our immigration advice team this year, please go to http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/CardinalHumeCentreTo find out more about the London Legal Walk, please go to www.londonlegalsupporttrust.org.uk/our-events/london-legal-walk-2018. Full London legal walk 2018 Press Release.
