Providing free legal representation for the public
and advocacy experience for junior lawyers
Would you like to shape the future direction of FRU's services? We are recruiting new trustees/directors to give strategic direction to FRU and to be accountable for our work to the community.
We're looking for a variety of skills and experience but particularly financial management, human resource management, fundraising and experience of the advice sector or as a litigant in person. The closing date for applications is 17.00 on 6 August. For more information please click here.
This week we say goodbye to FRU legal officer Daniel Hallstrom. Daniel joined us as an Assistant Legal Officer in 2021, initially for a year but he ended up staying for three. Daniel is leaving us to take up pupillage at the prestigious Old Square chambers.
FRU CEO David Abbott said of Daniel "Daniel has made an incredible contribution to our work over the last three years. He is knowledgeable and tenacious, always ready to identify any angle that takes his client's case forward.
Daniel has made an equal contribution to our employment, social security and criminal injuries compensation work. I know that he will make a wonderful barrister and we all wish him the best of luck in his legal career".
Congratulations to our Assistant Legal Officer Jamie Miller for securing pupillage with leading criminal, regulatory and public law chambers Mountford. Jamie has been with us since July 2023 and quickly established himself as a star performer. Even on the day that he was informed of his pupillage offer he secured an Employment Tribunal award of £16,000 for one of our clients.
Jamie said "I am incredibly excited to start pupillage at Mountford Chambers in October 2025. I thoroughly enjoyed my mini-pupillage with Mountford and hope to be doing similar work, with the same lovely people in the near future. I am indebted to FRU for the support I have been offered through the application process and to the opportunity to conduct real life advocacy in the Employment and Social Security tribunals. The importance of my experiences at FRU to the success of this round of applications cannot be overstated - every interview I attended asked me about the cases I had done and what I had learnt about either the technical or practical aspects of life at the bar. I came away from this process last year with very little to write home about and so I can safely say my time at FRU was a deciding factor."
https://www.mountfordchambers.com/mountford-chambers-announce-new-pupils/
As many pupils begin their second six this April, we are delighted to announce the publication of a new guide called ‘Pro Bono: A guide for Pupils and Supervisors’. We have published this guide alongside the Bar Council, the Bar Standards Board, Advocate and the Council of the Inns of Court.
The guide gives a helpful overview for pupils and their supervisors looking to “give back” and gain valuable additional experience through pro bono work. It outlines the many ways in which pupils can do this during pupillage, from assisting their supervisor with a pro bono case, through to undertaking pro bono work directly during their second-six. Aspiring barristers can actually volunteer for FRU once they have completed their LLB or GDL and during the Bar Course.
Our next training courses will take place next month and we hope to see many pupil barristers and other aspiring lawyers taking part.
We are pleased to announce dates for our next training sessions taking place in May. Booking will open on Monday 29th April for Employment and Tuesday 7th May for Social Security.
Please visit our training days page for more details about the training and how to book your place.