Our Open Mic Night 9th November: speaking out for a good cause | Huge turnout and productive conversations at our AGM | MMU Pro Bono and Legal Careers Fair | The Bach Review: What you need to know | Snapshot #1 from our Annual Report
Our Open Mic Night 9th November: Speaking Out for a Good Cause
An Evening of Poetry & Music: A great opportunity for all GMLC supporters to have a fun night out together. Kitchen until 8.30pm. Open bar until 11pm.
Pay on the door: Unwaged £5/Waged £10. To avoid disappointment, secure your ticket on Eventbrite here.
Calling all poets and musicians: would you like to perform? Email us at development@gmlaw.org.uk!
We will also have a raffle. Do you have any prizes to donate? Email us at development@gmlaw.org.uk!
We also need your help to spread the word.
Invite your friends, share the Facebook event, and encourage people sign up on Eventbrite. If you are able to spread hard-copy leaflets around your University or workplace, please get in touch and we can arrange a drop-off.
Huge turnout and productive conversations at our AGM
We welcomed over 70 people to our AGM on 28th September. There are far to many friendly faces to mention in one breath, but to name a just a few, we would like to thank friends from Macc, Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit, Greater Manchester Housing Action, Kenworthy’s Chambers, Garden Court North Chambers, Black Solicitors Network, University of Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan University, Shelter, Salford Citizens’ Advice, Robert Lizar Solicitors and Manchester Metropolitan Congregation. It was also wonderful to catch up with long-standing community supporters and volunteers.
Our Keynote speaker Rebekah Carrier led a fruitful discussion on Strategic Litigation before we conducted open discussion in smaller groups. We will take account of ideas and suggestions raised in Legal Campaigning going forward.
“The first thing I have to say as a visitor, is how exciting it is to see something new!
I would love to work in a law centre because you are able to do the groundwork for a strategic case. evidence, statistics, the background, knowing what’s coming up in local conversations. Act fast when changes are coming in that you need to stop.
Use campaigns to support you as much as you support them. If there’s an issue you feel strong about, think, ‘can we use the law?'”
– Rebekah Carrier on Strategic Litigation and the role of Law Centres
We must also welcome our newly elected Management Committee! Left-Right: Kev, Aisha, Giles, Mala, Denise, Sukhdeep, John and Norma, featuring our Supervising Solicitor Ngaryan front-second-right.
Thank you to Kenworthy’s Chambers for photos.
MMU Pro Bono and Legal Careers Fair
It was a pleasure to host a stall and presentation at Manchester Metropolitan University’s Pro Bono and Legal Careers Fair this week. We were promoting our campaign and volunteering opportunities, and our Legal Advocacy Support Project, whereby students from the Manchester Law School represent clients at appeal hearings, who are due to have their Employment and Support Allowance reduced by the Department of Work and Pensions. You can read more about the scheme here.
We received a fantastic response to our stall, as students were queuing for leaflets! A huge thank you to Sandra, Sam, Arwa and Hannah for representing us.
The Bach Review: What you need to know
The Commission, chaired by GMLC patron Lord Bach, was established at the end of 2015 to find solutions that will restore access to justice as a fundamental public entitlement. We have been waiting for the final report with bated breath, because it promised to deliver an innovative proposal for a statutory right to justice. This means that access to justice would be more than a general principle, but a tangible and enforceable legal right. The report does not disappoint, as it contains positive proposals and tangible reforms.
We share the latest access to justice stories in our newsletter and via social media, and often it feels like we’re reporting devastating news after devastating news. We know that there is a crisis in the legal justice system, and we want real change. These proposals offer that change.
Read our summary of the report here.
Snapshot #1 from our Annual Report
This is the first in a series of snapshots from our Annual Report, which was presented at our AGM 28th September 2017.
In the Chair’s Report, John Nicholson describes how far we have come.
“After the closure of South Manchester Law Centre in 2014 we said: if enough people wanted a Law Centre, there would be one.
In 2016 we opened the doors of 159 Princess Road to the public. There was one.
In 2017 we are building on what we have done and planning how to do more.
There have been many successes – we have law students winning appeals for people who have lost their benefits. These students have gone on to secure places as trainee barristers, and they take GMLC’s message with them as they become part of the next generation of social welfare lawyers.”
See the full report here.
4 things you can do to help Greater Manchester Law Centre
- You can donate and/or set up a standing order to help fund our key legal services
- Get involved, by either volunteering, becoming a member, a supporter, or if you are an organisation, you can affiliate with us. Find out how by going to the ‘Get Involved’ section of our website
- For those of you on Twitter, tweet us @gmlawcentre and tell us why access to justice is so important.
- Ask for a letter of support from your local councillor/MP/community organisation/trade union branch and send it in to us
Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Facebook to keep up to date with all the latest GMLC news.
#WhyweneedGMLawCentre
#FreeAccesstoJustice.
