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  • Important Select Committee report draws on FRU evidence
    Mon, 11/04/2019 - 14:01

    The Justice Select Committee has published a hard hitting inquiry report on HMCTS reform of the court and tribunal system. The report, which can be found at this link https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201920/cmselect/cmjust/190/190.pdf draws on evidence from FRU’s written submission.  In particular the report quotes our evidence on court closures and the importance of face to face hearings for our sick and disabled clients, the impact of legal aid cuts on access to justice and the availability of support for users, and the effectiveness of HMCTS communication about its reforms.

    The report called on the Ministry of Justice to evaluate the impact of court reform against the legal standard of access to justice summarised in the Legal Education Foundation’s “Digital Justice” report which FRU also contributed to. That report can be found at this link https://research.thelegaleducationfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019...
     

  • Problems booking Employment Training
    Mon, 11/04/2019 - 10:39

    Please note that there is a technical issue with the booking system for the employment training day on 23 November. We have frozen the bookings for the time being - the course is not fully booked. We will tweet when the issue has been resolved. Please check back here or on twitter for updates.  04/11/19 @ 10:45.

    We are still investigating the technical issue that is creating the errors when trying to book the employment training day.  04/11/19 @13:30.

    We are still investigating what is causing the errors with FRUonline. We don't anticipate a fix being found today.  Please check back for updates tomorrow. 04/11/19 @16:40

  • FRU welcomes Chinese justice delegation
    Wed, 10/23/2019 - 07:35

    On 21 October 2019 we were pleased to welcome an official delegation from Shandong Province in China. The delegation of justice officials were in Europe to study elements of other justice jurisdictions.

    The delegation had heard about FRU’s work and wished to understand more about how we operate. During the visit FRU CEO David Abbott explained FRU’s background and work, and set out the legal education and access to justice context that we work within.

    David Abbott said “We are pleased that FRU’s work is recognised internationally and welcomed the opportunity to explain to the delegation from Shandong Province how we represent some of the most vulnerable members of society whilst providing high quality clinical legal education to our volunteers. As always with such visits, there was a 2-way exchange of experience.”

     

     

  • FRU makes a submission to government consultation on employment rights
    Tue, 10/15/2019 - 11:31

    FRU has made a submission to a consultation on the enforcement of employment rights. The consultation, run by the BEIS government department, proposes the creation of a single official body to enforce employment rights. The FRU submission supports the proposal, and argues for giving the new body a wide remit.

    FRU Chief Executive David Abbott commented “Many people lose their employment rights because they worry about the impact of challenging their employer. A government body with the remit to enforce a wide range of employment rights would take pressure off individual workers to have to take action. Employers can also benefit from dealing with a single, proportionate and well informed enforcement agency when trying to understand what rights their employees have. FRU believes that a new body should have a wide remit and should reinvest the efficiencies gained from centralising diverse functions.”

    FRU submits evidence to policy makers where we think that access to justice can be improved.

  • Goodbye to Imogen and hello to Maria
    Tue, 10/15/2019 - 11:29

    It’s all change again in the FRU office. We were sorry to say goodbye to Imogen Leipnik, our legal secondee from Linklaters LLP. Imogen qualified as a solicitor at the end of September and left us to go back to her position at Linklaters. Imogen was a fantastic advocate and also pitched in to help us to run our service. We wish her all the best in her career. Almost at the same time our new Outer Temple Chambers pupil joined us. Maria Aisha has obtained an extended pupillage, and will be with us for the next 6 months and again in her formal second VI months period of pupillage. We wish Maria a warm welcome.