We appreciate just how well-positioned we are as lawyers to have a positive impact on society. So, we try to use our expertise and experience, allied to the passion for justice that made us want to be lawyers in the first place, to do good.
For many people, there are numerous barriers that influence their ability to access law, including legal information, access to lawyers, opportunity to participate in the legal profession and access to justice.
We have identified key projects to increase access to law and will continue to offer free legal and professional services to individuals and organisations that cannot otherwise afford them.
We want everyone who works at Mishcon de Reya to have this kind of positive impact from their first day with the Firm.
Legal Advice Clinics
Queen Mary Legal Advice Centre
We are proud to have a long standing pro bono partnership with Queen Mary University of London and their Legal Advice Centre, with initiatives including:
Black Justice Project
We offer free legal advice for members of the Black community on employment discrimination, actions against police and immigration matters relating to the Windrush scandal.
Pink Law
Our lawyers supervise law students advising clients on family and immigration matters.
SPITE (Sharing and Publishing Images to Embarrass)
SPITE provides victims of revenge porn with specialist free legal advice in matters of criminal law, civil law, privacy law, family law, as well as extensive practical advice. Lawyers and law students work closely with the Revenge Porn Helpline to ensure that clients have full assistance in removing images which are posted online.
Pro Bono Highlights
New North London Synagogue Asylum Seekers Drop In Centre
Our lawyers volunteer at the monthly drop in centre and support asylum seekers who are destitute. The centre is run by a large team of volunteers who offer signposting to legal advice, medical treatment, counselling, food and clothing.
The Chancery Lane Project
The Chancery Lane Project is a focused and collaborative effort of lawyers from around the world to develop new contracts and model laws to help fight climate change. Their purpose is to help create practical legal solutions to reverse climate change using collaborative problem solving, rewiring contracts and laws to create new market norms for lawyers and lawmakers to use.
B Lab UK
B Lab UK supports purpose driven companies seeking to secure B Corp certification. The accreditation is granted to businesses who meet the highest standard of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. Companies supported by Mishcon who have successfully obtained the certification include Proper Corn, The Big Issue, Finisterre and Abel & Cole.
Project for the Registration of Children as British Citizens (PRCBC)
In a landmark case brought forward by the Project for the Registration of Children as British Citizens (PRCBC), the High Court in London ruled in 2019 that the £1,012 fee the Home Office charges children to register as a British citizen unlawful. The case, supported by Amnesty International, was brought by three claimants; two children aged 3 and 12 both born in the UK and the PRCBC. The judgment requires the Home Office to reconsider the fee and ensure that children's best interests are taken fully into account. In February 2021, we represented the PRCBC as the Court of Appeal upheld the ruling of the High Court on one point. We were bound by a previous Court of Appeal decision on another. In June 2021, we represented the PRCBC at the Supreme Court and are currently waiting to hear the decision as to whether the application fee is unaffordable and, therefore, not legal.
The National Care Force
The National Care Force is a new initiative allowing people to volunteer and assist social care providers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Set up by the team behind Florence, a staffing platform for the social care industry, the nationwide network of healthcare workers and other volunteers support our social care services in looking after the most vulnerable members of society.
Tusk Trust
Tusk Trust supports and fosters projects which seek to provide the greatest conservation benefit across the continent of Africa, protecting endangered wildlife and investing in local communities. The charity was restructured in order to make way for a new protected framework and registered a new charity entity with the Charity Commission, which would then merge with the existing charity. The Charity Commission reviewed and approved the application within 46 hours.
Bliss
Bliss is a UK charity working to help premature and sick babies and their parents. It sponsors specialist nursing and research, provides a helpline as well as written and online materials. It also lobbies Government in respect of neo-natal issues. We provide pro bono advice on a number of issues, most recently on GDPR and website policies and terms and conditions, property issues and employment law.
Meals for the NHS
Meals for the NHS started fundraising at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic to provide healthy, hot food for NHS staff. We have assisted with pro bono legal advice on a range of commercial and regulatory matters, allowing the organisation to focus on delivering sustenance to those on the front line.