Everybody loves a good story. Writing and collecting them is essential for providing examples of and celebrating the hard work of pro bono professionals and helping to garner both media attention and funding. The NPBC can provide a freelance story writer to organisations that do not have the capacity to write and collect their own.
Harmony Works set out to transform a long-neglected heritage building into a dynamic music hub for thousands of young people in Sheffield. With wide-ranging pro bono legal support from CMS, the project overcame complex legal, funding, and heritage hurdles to lay the foundations for a new centre of cultural life in the city.
Although in the UK legally, when Joyce* lost her passport as a child, confusion over her surname led the Home Office to deny her applications for a British passport, meaning she could not travel, marry or prove her status until the problem was resolved 51 years later.
Yulia fled the Ukrainian war with her husband and son but soon found herself needing to escape from her marriage without any economic stability or knowledge of the British legal system. Domestic abuse charity FLAG DV set her up with a pro bono lawyer to help.
When Rachel’s* husband was arrested for domestic abuse, she was given a five-year restraining order against him. With no idea how to end the marriage, she asked FLAG DV for help to divorce a man she could not legally contact.
When the Home Office refused to give Ace* a UK passport, he fought them for decades. He missed out on family occasions, school trips and his mental health suffered. With help from United Legal Access, he claimed £70,000 in compensation to start a new life.
When Althea’s* mother abducted her two younger siblings and took them to the Philippines with a convicted sex offender, she knew she would need specialist help to get them back. Dads House provided all the free legal advice she required to return them and claim custody.
When Sammy’s* ex-partner stopped him from having any contact with this son, he wasn’t sure where to turn. Finding Dads House legal clinic meant that he received years of free legal support to re-establish their relationship.
Thiraviyarajah is a Tamil who was persecuted and tortured in his home country of Sri Lanka. He sought sanctuary in Australia in 2013 but was captured trying to enter. Held for years in various detention centres, he ended up on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea, which was reported to have appalling conditions, and a huge self-harm and suicide rate among the refugees held there.
When Robert and Nathan Gale had some good news, they headed to town to celebrate. However, their night out in Glasgow came to abrupt end when they were refused entry to a nightclub they had visited many times before because the venue said it not accommodate wheelchair users.
Crisanta lived in a quiet farming community of indigenous Mayan people in Guatemala, close to a gold mine. In 2005, the gold mine operator erected a powerline which local families claimed was installed on their land without consent.
John had made enough National Insurance contributions for Siobhan to be entitled to a bereavement payment and a widowed parent’s allowance. However, because they had never married or entered a civil partnership, the Northern Ireland Department of Communities told Siobhan that she was not entitled to the money.
After fleeing domestic abuse, Samantha* and her three children were housed by the council in a two-bedroom temporary flat. Samantha’s eldest son suffers from Pompe disease, a deteriorating muscle condition that means he requires constant care. The accommodation did not meet his needs, and he was unable to use his wheelchair or frame there.