A fundraising page for lawyers dedicated to helping the victims of the Syrian refugee crisis has raised thousands of pounds within its first few hours.

The JustGiving page, created by 11KBW barrister Sean Jones QC, encourages lawyers to give the equivalent of one billable hour to Save the Children.

Set up at 10pm on Thursday, the appeal had reached its initial £5,000 target within 90 minutes after it was promoted through social media. By 8.30am on Friday it had comfortably passed the £10,000 mark. By 11am it had passed £20,000.

The page’s introduction states: ‘The refugee crisis is real, urgent and claiming lives. We are asking lawyers to donate a billable hour to help Save the Children do its vital work.’

‘Not everyone can give, we know. If you cannot please deploy your advocacy skills to nag someone else into doing so.’

Jones told the Gazette that all sorts of lawyers, academics students have contributed to the cause so far.

He added: 'One lawyer is donating his mention fee today so he’s going to court at his own expense to earn money to give to charity. That’s some gesture!’

Anyone can donate through the site at https://www.justgiving.com/BillableHour.