Law Firm To Host Free Legal Clinics As Part Of National Pro Bono Week

Law firm Irwin Mitchell will be hosting two free legal advice clinics in Sheffield as part of National Pro Bono Week (NPBW).

A one-off pro bono session will be held at the law firm’s offices on Millsands on Tuesday 7 November, whilst the first of a monthly series of free legal advice sessions will be held at the Sheffield and District African Caribbean Community Association (SADACCA) community centre in the Wicker on Wednesday 8 November.

NPBW, which takes place from Monday 6 November to Saturday 11 November, is a nationwide campaign to raise awareness of pro bono work that the legal sector carries out for public good.

Pro bono work helps people obtain legal assistance who would otherwise not be able to access or afford it.

The one-off session held at Irwin Mitchell’s Sheffield office will be taking place on an appointment only basis from 10am to 12pm and 2pm to 4pm. It’s free for those who are looking for legal assistance and advice across a number of areas of law including real estate, commercial litigation, insolvency, family law, contentious probate and medical negligence – specifically, support with inquest representation.

James Berry, a litigation partner at Irwin Mitchell and co-chair of its Pro Bono Committee said: “We’re delighted to be hosting a free legal advice clinic at our Sheffield office as part of NPBW. Being able to offer this service to people who need it is what NPBW is all about. We’ve held similar clinics in the past and always received extremely encouraging and positive feedback from people who have attended; it’s really important to enable people to access pro bono legal advice they so desperately need.”

Appointments for the legal advice session can be made by contacting Amanda Walch on 0114 274 4480, or at amanda.walch@irwinmitchell.com.

On Wednesday 8 November, Irwin Mitchell will also be holding the first in a series of monthly free legal advice sessions at the SADACCA community centre.

Staff from Irwin Mitchell’s Sheffield office will attend the centre from 1pm to 5pm to offer SADACCA members and its community expert legal advice on an initial pro bono basis. Subsequent clinics will run on the first Wednesday of every month from 1pm to 5pm.

Irwin Mitchell lawyers Ewan Bain, Rachael Aram, David Withers and Rosie Charlton will advise people on a number of areas of law including compensation for personal injuries, court of protection, welfare benefits, disability rights and immigration.

SADACCA is one of the oldest community centres in England and provides community care in a variety of forms, from day and home care that promotes health and well-being, to engagement with young people through music and sport.

In addition to making up part of Irwin Mitchell’s pro bono initiative, the clinics also come under the banner of one of the law firm’s diversity networking groups, IM Respect, which supports and celebrates race, religion and ethnicity.

Amandeep Dhillon, a specialist personal injury partner at Irwin Mitchell who leads the group, said: "It is very important that we engage and support the communities which we serve, and the work that we’re doing with SADACCA is a brilliant example of this. This project also demonstrates the many different areas of diversity which we can help progress through well thought out initiatives such as this.”

Ewan Bain, a solicitor in the serious injury team at Irwin Mitchell, who leads the relationship with SADACCA, said: “I joined the IM Respect group as I wanted to reach out to our richly diverse communities in Sheffield. From a personal perspective, my wife has African heritage and our children are of mixed African heritage. I wanted to help the Afro-Caribbean community in Sheffield given my connection to it and Sheffield has a long standing and proud Afro-Caribbean community. Being from Sheffield myself, I was aware of SADACCA and contacted them to see if they thought a pro bono clinic would benefit their members; SADACCA were overwhelmingly positive about the initiative and I am glad we are now in a position to have this scheme finally launched. I can’t wait to get started and help people in our community.”

Olivier Tsemo from SADACCA, said: “This is an outstanding opportunity for the community to have free legal advice on many issues. The feedback from my initial discussions with SADACCA members was positive, with many saying they can’t wait to book an appointment.”

Appointments for the legal advice session can be made by contacting SADACCA in person, on 0114 275 3479, or at admin@sadacca.co.uk, but a walk in service will operate as well for convenience.