Organisers of this year’s London Legal Walk are calling on 10,000 lawyers to sign up to raise funds for charities that provide free legal advice.  The annual 10-kilometre walk, organised by the London Legal Support Trust, will take place on 19 May, marking the 10th anniversary of the event.

Last year 7,500 lawyers signed up to the walk and raised £530,000 for free legal advice charities in London. The Gazette is media partner of the event.

Expected participants include the lord chief justice, the president of the Supreme Court, and the master of the rolls.

The Law Society said participation is ‘even more important this year’, with the free legal advice sector hit by reductions in local authority funding and £220m in legal aid cuts.

Nicholas Fluck, president of the Law Society, said: ‘Advice agencies and pro bono centres are a source of hope for those who haven’t the means to pay for legal advice and do not qualify for legal aid. Walking together, as one legal sector, is a small way we can help ensure these services remain available.’

Bob Nightingale, chief executive of the London Legal Support Trust, said free legal advice is essential in ensuring vulnerable people have access to justice.

‘Obviously we can’t completely fill the funding void advice centres have suffered in recent years but the funds raised through the London Legal Walk can go some way to ensure thousands of the most vulnerable people in and around London will get the vital legal help that they would otherwise have been unable to afford,’ he said.

Teams can sign up to take part until Friday 16 May. For more information visit the London Legal Support Trust’s website