This year’s LegalVoice Annual Conference is to be held on 1 March 2016 in London.

The event will be on the theme of ‘Making it Work’ and will include keynote addresses by Lord Willy Bach and Lord Colin Low of Dalston, as well as the usual packed programme of workshops. It is free (subject to a small charge for non-attendance -see below).

There will be 12 workshops split over 4 sessions. Please book your ticket and reserve your place on your preferred workshops as early as possible to avoid disappointment.

Workshop 1A - Social Media – what’s the point?

Most organisations feel they should be active on social media but aren’t really sure how or why. This session will take you through why you should use it, how to get started or develop what you are doing, and a few practical tips to make it easier.

Workshop 1B - EU Funding for Legal Advice Organisations

Funding from the EU can be both difficult to access and to report on but is an available source of funding for UK organisations. This workshop will discuss a number of different EU funding opportunities, how to find out about them, partner requirements and matched funding.

Workshop 1C - joint workshop - (i) The Justice First Fellowship scheme

The Justice First Fellowship Scheme was established in 2014 to support the next generation of students committed to public interest and social justice issues who want to pursue a career in social welfare law. The Scheme was set up by The Legal Education Foundation, in partnership with Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and Unbound Philanthropy. This workshop will discuss the experiences of those involved with establishing and participating with the scheme.

and (ii)Scoping a Leadership Development Programme for Social Welfare Legal Advice Sector

The Baring Foundation and its funding partners commissioned Cass Business School’s Centre for Charity Effectiveness to carry out a scoping exercise to explore the potential for a leadership development programme for the social welfare legal advice sector in England & Wales, and has subsequently commissioned CCE to deliver the Programme. This workshop will summarise the report’s recommendations and update participants about plans for the Programme.

Workshop 2A - The Use of Law by Voluntary Agencies

The Migrant Children’s Project at Coram Children’s Legal Centre (CCLC) works to protect and promote the rights of children and young people affected by UK immigration control. This workshop will discuss why and how CCLC trains other agencies on the how to best make use of the law to protect vulnerable children.’

Workshop 2B - LAPG Certificate in Practice Management

Successfully piloted in 2015, the Certificate in Practice Management combines face to face training with online learning and materials to provide an accessible and affordable management training programme for agencies and their caseworkers. This workshop will discuss the content of the syllabus and feedback received so far. LAPG will run the LAPG Certificate in Practice Management twice in 2016.

Workshop 2C - Funding Advice using Legal Expenses Insurance – Update

The Legal Advice Centre (LAC) has successfully found an alternative income stream utilising clients’ Legal Expenses Insurance policies. Given that clients have the right to choose their own lawyer, LAC has been able to fund cases using insurance policies that clients often didn’t realise that they had. This helps to make the advice service sustainable. Such alternative funding may also serve to help with community cohesion in engaging communities in projects of common interest. In this workshop, LAC will explain how an advice agency/Law Centre may be able develop their work in this area.

Workshop 3A - The Viability of Law Firms using Charitable Structures & Crowd Funding to Provide Legal Services

Post LASPO, organisations have been unable to provide most forms of specialist help in the areas of social welfare law. Two other innovative ways of funding specialist advice are using a charitable arm as a means of providing legal services and crowdfunding. Unbound Philanthropy and the Legal Education Foundation have been examining the case for law firms to use charitable structures as a means of funding cases. Deighton Pierce Glynn successfully used crowdfunding to fund cases such as the banknotes case and the challenge to the GCHQ surveillance programme.

Workshop 3B - The Role of Advice Services in Health Outcomes

An evidence review and mapping study was produced by ASA and The Low Commission in 2015. This showed how the right welfare advice in the right place produces real benefits for patient health, especially where advice services work directly with the NHS and care providers. It presents clear evidence that early and effective welfare advice provision reduces demand on the NHS. A strategic policy event last October sought to build support within the NHS system for the integration of advice and health. This session will focus on the next steps for the legal advice sector. How do we build on the momentum behind this agenda? What should local services be doing to integrate with health services? What are the lessons for advice service design?

Workshop 3C - Getting Money and Making the Most of It!

This workshop will provide top tips and guidance for writing effective fundraising applications as well as ways you might be able to save money as an organisation. Based on practical experience from funders, it will explore what areas must be included in a good application and things to avoid!

Workshop 4A - Working in Partnership with Clinical Commissioning Groups and others

A number of partnerships have effectively used funding from sources such as The Big Lottery and the Advice Services Transition Fund to enable their advice partnerships to engage effectively with the general public and the local Clinical Commissioning Group. This has enabled improvements such as advice in GP’s surgeries, financial health checks for vulnerable people, the launch of the Warmth for wellbeing pilot and the hospital discharge advice pilot (delivered with public health funding). In the workshop we shall also discuss the increased use of I.T. in helping the public to receive advice and the new alliance commissioning model which is proving popular in some areas.

Workshop 4B - Not So Straightforward: the need for qualified legal support in refugee family reunion

Following the implementation of LASPO, family reunion legal work has generally been outside the scope of legal aid. The British Red Cross (BRC) and Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit both piloted projects to provide legal advice and support with partners from an advice agency, a Law Centre and a law firm, and with volunteers. This workshop discusses the lessons learned from the pilots and the report which was released by the BRC in 2015.

Workshop 4C - Using Volunteers and Students

The Avon and Bristol Law Centre - Legal Advice & Support Project (LASP) trains volunteer law students to provide specialist advice and legal representation for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) Appeals. The Law Centre received nationwide recognition in 2015 with its success rate of winning 95% of all ‘fit for work’ appeals. Islington Law Centre trains and supervises volunteers to provide a form filling service which reduces demand for help with tribunals/ appeals and case work. This workshop looks at the merits and challenges of running a successful volunteer programme.

Terms and Conditions

* To qualify for a free place, a delegate must be registered as an individual e-mail subscriber to the LegalVoice newsletter. Please note that a charge of £60 shall be made to you and/or your organisation should you not attend the event nor send an alternative delegate in your place. By registering, you are agreeing to our terms that the full fee is payable in the event of non-attendance.

You may notify us of a substitute delegate at any stage before the date of the conference. The name of the substituted delegate must be confirmed prior to the date of the conference for security and administrative reasons.

Legal Voice reserves the right to vary or cancel the conference where the occasion necessitates. We do not accept any liability for a conference not taking place.

Continuing Professional Development – The Legal Voice Conference 2016 is being run in association with DG Legal Ltd. DG Legal Ltd is accredited as an external course provider by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Attending this conference qualifies you for 5 CPD hours.

Please email contact@legalvoice.org.uk if you have any queries.