Latest News

  • FRU features in leading Law Society publication
    Tue, 11/29/2022 - 15:06

    FRU's service has been highlighted in the autumn edition of Central London Lawyer, the magazine of the Westminster & Holborn Law Society. FRU Chief Executive David Abbott was asked to be the guest editor for the edition, which focusses on pro bono. Westminster & Holborn Law Society has over 10,000 members working in some of the largest and prestigious law firms in the UK.

    David writes about barriers to and motivation for undertaking pro bono legal activity, encouraging lawyers to see pro bono as useful to them as it is to their clients.

    The magazine also features a piece by a recent secondee to FRU from Linklaters LLP. Scott Miller writes about his experience at FRU and how it helped him in the next stage of his legal career.

     

  • Helen Moizer blogpost 23 September 2022
    Tue, 11/29/2022 - 14:57

    I remember hearing about the Free Representation Unit (“FRU”) whilst I was studying for my Graduate Diploma in Law. There was a buzz about the charity and I heard how students were running their own cases and working directly with clients. Wanting to get involved with this, I attended FRU’s training and put myself forward to volunteer for social security cases whilst studying for my Bar Course. I began writing submissions, preparing for tribunal appeal hearings and representing real-life clients, giving me on the ground experience, with a lot of responsibility.  Read the full blog here

  • Marathon pro bono heroes go the extra mile for FRU
    Tue, 10/04/2022 - 10:30

    Huge congratulations to our four runners in the 2022 London Marathon for completing the course and raising thousands of pounds to support our work.

    FRU Chief Executive David Abbott said "Our thanks go to Holly Stout, John Mehrzad KC, Ashton Squires and Jonny Castle for their brilliant achievements. We don't receive any public funds and need to raise almost half a million pounds each year to maintain our service. We're so grateful to our runners and all their supporters. It's not too late to donate to any of their fundraising pages. Particular thanks go to Ashton Squires as he also swam 10k in the same week as running the marathon!"

     

  • Scott Miller blogpost 1 September 2022
    Tue, 10/04/2022 - 10:07

    I have spent the last six months of my training contract at the Free Representation Unit (FRU), on secondment from Linklaters. I was attracted to the FRU secondment as I had really enjoyed doing pro bono work in my other seats and I was keen to have exposure to employment law. The FRU secondment therefore suited me perfectly! 

    Working at FRU has offered a unique perspective to my training contract: not only have I worked on pro bono matters and dealt directly with clients on a daily basis, but I have been able to get experience that is not often found in commercial law firms: most of my days are spent doing what the media portrays as the work of a stereotypical ‘lawyer’. I have my own client base that I am responsible for, and a lot of the work revolves around advocacy and hearing preparation, which has allowed me to put the skills I learnt during my training contract to use in a different context. 

    Going into the secondment, I was looking to take more ownership of the work I did, and this was certainly fulfilled at FRU. As a charity with limited resources, FRU has a lean structure, with just a handful of other legal officers to supervise all the cases that come in. This meant that I was given full responsibility for managing both my own caseload and supervising volunteers’ work very soon after I started. Whilst the learning curve was steep, the team were great at making sure I felt supported at every step of the way. Getting such direct hands-on experience was invaluable, and I feel that this in particular has put me on the front foot as I start my role as an associate. 

    I was also very impressed by the enthusiasm and ability of the volunteers I supervised. FRU volunteers are typically students completing their legal training or looking for pupillage, and it was great to see the commitment each volunteer had to their case, spending hours to prepare and represent clients (who would otherwise not have access to legal representation) in the employment tribunal. Thanks to the help of these volunteers, FRU manages to make a big difference despite its lean structure: last quarter, FRU staff and volunteers spent 16 days  in the Employment Tribunal (including 2 days in Judicial Mediation and 2 days in the Employment Appeal Tribunal); received Employment Tribunal awards of £190,000 and negotiated settlements worth £89,000 on behalf of its clients.

    Whilst 6 months didn’t at first appear like a lot of time to get stuck into an organisation such as FRU (especially without any prior employment law experience!), I have been pleasantly surprised by the amount I’ve been able to do. Along with supporting the volunteers I’ve supervised (a skill in itself of reviewing and providing meaningful feedback), I have also learnt so much by taking on my own cases: from communicating legal issues to clients in a digestible way and improving my negotiation skills in settlement talks, to keeping multiple plates spinning and improving my oral advocacy representing clients in tribunal. 

    I have found that settlement negotiations hugely hinge on what each party wants from the process, as the scope for creative solutions is much broader than what a tribunal could award. For instance, one client cared less about the money they would get than the standard confidentiality clause contained in the settlement agreement: they lived and worked in a small community and were worried that they would be penalised if word got out in the town’s gossip mill. We were able to work through this at the last minute by drafting an agreed statement clause that set out the parameters of what both sides could say without breaching the agreement. This was a great opportunity to think slightly outside of the box to meet a client’s needs as well as providing great quality drafting experience.

    Being responsible for cases directly has also honed my project management skills: whilst I worked on large multijurisdictional disputes during my training contract, my time at FRU took this to a new level in terms of personal responsibility. The pinnacle of this has been co-representing a group of 15(!) claimants in a group litigation claim against three different respondents – as you may imagine, there are lots of logistical hurdles involved here on top of the legal ones! In cases as complicated as this, the tribunal is often minded to encourage alternative forms of resolution and, in this case, the judge arranged for a judicial mediation. Myself and my colleague therefore represented the claimants in front of a judge whose goal was to encourage settlement. Whilst I can’t say too much as the case is ongoing, this provided a great opportunity to see how the judicial process can work outside of the standard tribunal procedure and the ways in which a mediator facilitates negotiations.

    I have also had to deal with cases that did not go as smoothly as I thought they might. For instance, the employment tribunal published guidance two weeks before one of my hearings stating that, where a witness wanted to give evidence from abroad, permission had to be granted from that country’s government. My client was living in New Zealand at the time and so this proved to be a bit of a problem! We ended up applying for the hearing to be postponed to allow for the permission to be sought, and the client ultimately ended up returning to the UK, but it was certainly a curve ball that took me by surprise when it happened.

    On another occasion, I had to step in at the last minute to represent a client at a costs hearing as the volunteer became unavailable. Costs aren’t too often awarded in the employment tribunal, and so it was a good opportunity for me to see both how the judge approaches such a situation as well as to get some proper tribunal advocacy experience. Some additional evidence was required from my client at the hearing and so they had to take the oath, which I hadn’t experienced first-hand before. 

    As I look back on my time at FRU, I am very grateful to have worked with so many talented individuals to support claimants in what is often one of the most difficult periods of their lives. 

    Scott was a trainee in his final seat at Linklaters and Qualified in September 2022

    FRU is celebrating it’s 50th anniversary this year.  If you would like to donate to the continued work of FRU, we would be very grateful wwww.thefru.org.uk/donate

  • Scott Miller completes his secondment from Linklaters
    Wed, 09/07/2022 - 15:55

    We also say goodbye to Scott Miller, our latest secondee from Linklaters who has been with us for 6 months.

    Scott said "Working at FRU has offered a unique perspective to my training contract. I have my own client base that I am responsible for, and a lot of the work revolves around advocacy and hearing preparation, which has allowed me to put the skills I learnt during my training contract to use in a different context."

    FRU Chief Executive David Abbott said "I would like to thank Scott for his hard work and professionalism. We wish Scott good luck as he leaves us on qualification as a solicitor".