ELA Pro Bono Initiative: The 100 Days’ Project

The aim of the ELA 100 days project is to match those ELA members who would like to get advocacy and more hands on ET experience with deserving cases for unrepresented parties, often struggling with a lack of knowledge and expertise.ELA members are invited to get involved the 100 days project by filling in the online pledgee form (or email this information to 100days@elaweb.org.uk, as outlined on the right) offering a day (or more) of pro bono assistance in the next year, either via a day’s advocacy or a day’s casework.

We are using your replies to compile a comprehensive database of all ELA pro bono “pledgees”, which will help us more effectively match up pro bono cases with pro bono volunteers. We will then email pledgees, as and when suitable cases are sent to us, to seek volunteers to help. This will enable us to send such enquiries to a more focussed group of interested parties, and avoid sending every case to all ELA members.

We are particularly keen to place solicitors, from no PQE to six years’ PQE, who have very little (or no) experience of assisting someone at an Employment Tribunal, with small pro bono cases or even case management discussions. Such experiences should prove invaluable for the lawyer’s personal development, as well as for their confidence and enjoyment of the job.

For ELA barristers and more experienced ELA members we will be looking to offer you cases in areas of law that you have not yet covered, or a chance to do a day’s casework, on a complex case, including a meeting with the client perhaps. In each case, this will help develop your skills further. Where we cannot find a pledgee to help, due to the length of the hearing, the Claimant could still be benefited enormously by spending a couple of hours of time speaking with or meeting an ELA member, even just to understand some of the strengths and weakness in their case and how the procedures/the system works. With a bit of help from us, those people are, as a result, likely to equip themselves more effectively and properly in Tribunal to the potential benefit of all parties.

The ultimate aim of the 100 days’ Project is to achieve at least 100 days of pro bono assistance, by ELA members under the ELA casework scheme, whether by advocacy or casework, in the next calendar year. On completion of any pro bono involvement a short result form will need to be sent to the 100 days project, which will enable closer monitoring and review of the success of the project. We would then like to regularly improve that figure going forward.

The beauty of a project like the “100 Days’ Project” is that it should reduce the number of uninformed unrepresented Claimants, whilst increasing the number of employment lawyers with a real feel for the inside of an Employment Tribunal!

So please would you kindly step forward and pledge to give a little help by filling in the 100 days project online form or by cutting and pasting the form on the left into your email, completing it and sending it to 100days@elaweb.org.uk. Please send any queries only to 100days@elaweb.org.uk.