Home » News

Latest News

  • OTC / FRU Pupillage
    Tue, 04/14/2015 - 13:33

    In 2013 Outer Temple Chambers and the Free Representation Unit announced a new 18 month pupillage scheme. This involved 6 months at FRU doing primarily employment casework, followed by a formal 1st six months pupillage at OTC, and then a practising 2nd six months pupillage doing OTC and FRU casework.

    The funding that made this scheme possible came from the generosity of Patrick Reeves, a former pupil of OTC's Head of Pupillage and, since his premature death, is now provided by a charitable Trust set up by his family.

    Daniel Brown, the first pupil under this scheme started in September 2013 and has recently completed his pupillage.

    Details of the next application round, for a pupillage starting in October 2015 will be advertised by both OTC and FRU in May / June 2015. We expect applications to open in July 2015. To be notified when more details become available, please email OTC's Pupillage Coordinator at pupillage@outertemple.com

    In 2013/14 there was a total pupillage award of £22,500 paid over the 18 months. We expect the award to be similar in 2015.

  • Support FRU's London Marathon Runners
    Tue, 03/31/2015 - 12:40

    Five runners are entering the London Marathon to raise much needed funds for FRU.

    Please help support and encourage them.  Their details and justgiving pages are below.

    Hannah Venn-Munns of Dowse & Co Solicitors

    A 3 year PQE Housing and Family Law Solicitor originally from North Devon - this is my 5th Marathon (I completed my 33rd Half marathon on 08.03.15) - I am honoured to be running for a cause that I truly believe in and which provides a service that I fiercely support - Access to Justice. I hope to honour the event and this fantastic cause by finishing with a marathon personal best.

    http://www.justgiving.com/HannahVennMunns

    Ella Davis of FRU

    Ella is our Assistant Legal Officer, Employment and Self-Referral Co-Ordinator (try saying that in a hurry!). Before we talked her into this she’d never willingly entered a race. She says “Working at FRU is endlessly rewarding. It provides excellent training for young lawyers like me and most importantly it gives vulnerable members of society meaningful access to justice.”

    https://www.justgiving.com/ELLA-DAVIS2

    Elliot Fry of Cripps LLP

    Elliot is married to Ella, our assistant legal officer (employment) and has been roped in as emotional support. This is his first marathon, and in his own words "Listening to all the (thrilling and of course appropriately anonymised) stories from Ella's time at FRU, it's clear that it's hugely important not only to the people who they represent, but to the good working of the tribunal systems, to the volunteers, and in championing the idea of access to justice.

    http://www.justgiving.com/Elliot-Fry

    Elizabeth Forrester of Birnberg Peirce & Partners

    I worked at FRU for a year as assistant legal officer from 20011-2012 and volunteered before and since then. While I was there I was talked into doing the marathon by a trusted principal legal officer (employment) who will remain nameless and it was so much fun that I have done it every year since. This will be my fourth time- and any encouragement in the form of donations or cheering would be very welcome.

    https://www.justgiving.com/EFMarathon2015

    Michael Reed of FRU

    http://www.justgiving.com/reed2015

  • Cycling Silk
    Wed, 02/11/2015 - 11:22

    Our very own Cycling Silk, John Hendy QC will be taking part in the annual 110km Cape Argus Cycle Race in Cape Town on 8 March 2015. John was one of the founders of FRU, over 40 years ago and continues to raise vital funds for the organisation. Please sponsor him and raise money for a good cause: www.justgiving.com/JohnHendyQC-FRU

     

  • Friends in Law awards
    Mon, 02/02/2015 - 11:25

    FRU and the Bar Pro Bono Unit will be holding our annual Friends in Law awards ceremony at the Bar Council on Monday 9 March 2015. The event recognises those chambers that make substantial donations to both charities to help fund the vital work we carry out.

  • New Employment Referral Scheme
    Wed, 01/07/2015 - 16:47

    FRU is excited to announce the launch of our self-referral project. From January 2015 we will be accepting self-referrals for some short employment cases. This is a pilot project which we are able to run thanks to a generous grant from Trust for London.

    To be eligible for self-referral a case must be listed for a full merits hearing of one or two days. All other cases will still need to be referred to us by a referral agency. We believe it is still in our clients’ interests to receive early advice from a referral agency whenever possible and hope this project will help us to reach those who are unable to access their services.

    Full details of the project are available here.