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ÐÂÏã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹ûIntegrated Legal Advice Clinic (iLAC) is part of the Centre for Access to Justice based at ÐÂÏã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹ûFaculty of Laws. The clinic offers free legal advice and representation on social welfare issues for members of our local community and Greater London. 

Darren Broad, a first seat trainee, joined ÐÂÏã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹ûiLAC on secondment in September from global law firm Clyde & Co. Darren is ÐÂÏã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹ûiLAC’s second trainee and the first to have been seconded from a commercial law firm.   

Darren will be with ÐÂÏã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹ûiLAC for the next six months where he will be working with the team on welfare benefits, housing, and community care cases alongside supporting the Clinic’s outreach work with local community organisations.  

Speaking about the partnership, Rachel Knowles, Head of Legal Practice at ÐÂÏã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹ûiLAC has said ‘we are very excited to welcome Darren to ÐÂÏã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹ûiLAC.  As rents are skyrocketing and more people are losing their homes, we are busier than ever before. Darren joining us means we will be able to increase our capacity to help the local community  we are incredibly grateful to Clyde & Co for their support.’ 

Caroline Loving, Head of Pro Bono and Social Impact at Clyde & Co said ‘A secondment to ÐÂÏã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹ûiLAC offers Clyde & Co trainees a strong seat option that ensures continued training excellence and new opportunities for growth and innovation. Both Clyde & Co and ÐÂÏã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹ûiLAC are committed to access to justice for all and so we are looking forward to working together to boost the capacity of the clinic and provide more members of the East London community with good quality, free legal advice.’ 

At a time where legal aid is in crisis and many advice providers are having their funding cut, Darren’s secondment by Clyde & Co shows one of the ways commercial firms can support access to justice and have significant impact through their pro bono work.  

Darren said ‘The secondment to ÐÂÏã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹ûiLAC seemed like a fantastic way to start my training contract by immersing myself in areas of law that I would not get to experience at Clyde & Co. The secondment really stood out to me as I already have experience of welfare appeals from volunteering at the Bristol Law Centre, and this is a big part of the work at ÐÂÏã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹ûiLAC. During my 6 months at ÐÂÏã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹ûiLAC I am really looking forward to developing my legal skills and taking an active role in working on and even managing my own cases.’