The Great British Bake Off may be over but the Great Legal Bake is just around the corner. The 12-16th of February will see hundreds of law firms, chambers, courts and legal advice centres across the country bake to raise funds for access to justice.
All of the proceeds from these bakes go to support access to justice for the most vulnerable. In 2017 over 250 bakes were held across the country. The funds raised support a network of seven Legal Support Trusts across England, Wales and Scotland working with the Access to Justice Foundation to support free legal advice agencies.
The money raised by the Legal Support Trusts really does make a huge difference in people’s lives. For example, when Shelter helps homeless families, sometimes despite their best efforts to persuade a local authority to accept their duty to provide housing, a family may have nowhere to sleep that night. The legal team can be left with a situation where they would have to make an out of hours application to the Duty Judge. The family, including the children, would be kept up late at night waiting for an emergency Court Order, with all the uncertainty and stress that entails. Now the legal team raises money through LLST, they can pay for overnight accommodation so the children (and the Duty Judge) can get a proper night’s sleep. They can then apply to the Court in the morning.
To find out more about the Great Legal Bake please go here or here.
(Source: London Legal Support Trust)
