The free representation unit, which is nearing its 35th anniversary, can list Baroness Scotland, Cherie Booth and Tony Blair as past volunteers. Jonathan Rayner paid a visit


The Free Representation Unit (FRU) does what it says on the tin: it represents people free of charge, providing legal advice, case preparation and advocacy in tribunal proceedings. Typical clients are individuals whose cases were never eligible for legal aid or who have used up their legal aid entitlement.



They will have come to the FRU via citizens advice bureaux (CAB), law centres or law firms. And they will be represented by trainees or junior lawyers who give their time freely to the FRU, but benefit from the opportunity to practise their advocacy, case management and related skills.



Clive Tulloch became chief executive of the FRU in October 2006, after retiring from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), where he was a tax partner. ‘I believe that access to justice is an absolutely fundamental hallmark of a civilised society,’ he says. ‘And anyway, I like the legal profession for all its quirks and oddities.’



Tulloch adds that he enjoys ‘winding-up old silks’ by telling them that the FRU is quite similar to his old firm, with its 14,000 staff and international profile. ‘The FRU office is full of young, bright people sparking off one another and learning from more experienced practitioners,’ he explains. ‘It’s an environment I recognise – it’s how I learnt my trade as a tax professional.’



Prominent among these young, bright people is Vicky Lord, who has been active with the FRU since 2002 and is now its chairwoman. She says: ‘The appellant work is incredibly interesting, and so are the criminal injuries compensation cases: they’re challenging and new to me and complement the crime work I’m doing for my pupillage [at Charter Chambers, London].’



As chairwoman, Lord heads the volunteer management committee that ensures the FRU is meeting its charitable aims and ‘representing as many people as possible’. Along with Tulloch, she is busy preparing for the celebration of the FRU’s 35th anniversary in May 2008, when – among other events – there will be a gala benefit dinner to raise funds for the charity.



Money is a constant issue: Lord’s long-term ambition for the FRU is to overcome funding restrictions which are holding it back from expanding beyond London. She says: ‘We’ve now, for the first time, got an experienced and salaried chief executive on board in Clive Tulloch. We’re confident he’ll steer us towards expansion and ever greater things.’



Lord says that the lifeblood of the FRU is the body of around 200 volunteer representatives who take on the cases unpaid. Most are doing the legal practice course (LPC) or bar vocational course and they range from final-year law students to fully qualified solicitors and barristers.



Some have completed their LPC and are doing a two-year training contract with a firm of solicitors. Clare Cruise, for example, is a trainee on secondment from City firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer: ‘My time here is giving me the chance to stand up at tribunals and make my own decisions, such as whether to accept an offer or what to disclose. I’m managing my own caseload, learning how to organise my work, and I’m having direct contact with clients. It’s all very confidence-building, and I’ll be taking new skills back to Freshfields when my stint here is finished.’



The experience is also opening Cruise’s eyes to how much ‘unsung work’ her fellow practitioners do through the CAB, other pro bono activities and – of course – the FRU. ‘We lawyers often get a bad press and it’s good to know, this early in my career, that our bad reputation is rarely justified.’



Joy Onikoyi, another representative, is a trainee with US firm Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson and is taking a six-month seat with the FRU to gain experience with contentious work. She says: ‘You develop transferable skills. You have ownership of your own work and lots of client contact where you practise articulating legal tests to lay persons who, unlike corporate clients, aren’t necessarily au fait with the law. And you get hands-on experience of advocacy, of course, which is invaluable.’



Onikoyi is reaching the end of her term with the FRU and says the seat has helped her gain confidence. ‘I plan to be a financial or corporate lawyer eventually, but six months advising on social security, employment and criminal injuries compensation has helped my confidence grow. I’d like to think I’m now a more rounded lawyer and better equipped to do the job.’



William Yonge also represents FRU clients, but in contrast to the trainees is already a qualified solicitor – he is an investment funds and regulation partner in the London office of a US law firm. Why does he volunteer for the FRU? ‘It’s good practice for the day job. I do a lot of desk-based advisory work, whereas this is good advocacy experience.



‘It’s also very important to do some pro bono work because it is right that all lawyers should do so.’



Yonge adds that his firm, like other US law firms, actively encourages all staff – ‘across the board, from young lawyers to the more experienced’ – to undertake pro bono work. He says: ‘US law firms have made a big contribution to the UK pro bono scene.’



Yonge stresses, however, that the FRU is not stealing work from high street law firms. ‘If we didn’t represent these clients, they

would have no representation at all. We’re covering an unmet legal need.’



There is certainly a huge demand for the FRU’s services. Tulloch says the FRU takes on some 700 cases each year, of which around 300 are employment cases, 300 are social security benefits cases, and the rest are criminal injury compensation and immigration cases. All these cases are from London – so this is the tip of the iceberg in national terms. Tulloch says: ‘We hate turning cases away, but depend on our volunteers being able and willing to take a case. A particular problem is finding volunteers to take the longer cases – those taking three days or more, as so many discrimination cases do.’



He adds that the bigger firms of lawyers take some cases, but have similar difficulty placing the longer ones. ‘We have now begun working with the Employment Lawyers Association in the hope that their large pool of members might include people able to take some of the more difficult cases.’



Some lawyers support the FRU not by acting as representatives in court but by acting as referral agents – finding worthwhile cases and directing them towards the FRU’s offices. Ola McGhee, a trainee at London and Essex law firm Edwards Duthie, is one such referral agent. ‘We handle trade union and public employment cases. If the client can’t afford to pay for representation or has no legal aid funding left, we pass the case on to the FRU with all the paper work prepared and a date set for the hearing,’ she explains. ‘We know our clients will be in safe hands.’



McGhee adds: ‘Without the FRU, our clients would either have had to represent themselves, which is daunting, or somehow find the money to pay counsel – which is expensive.’



Sadly, there are increasing pressures on referral agencies. Lord says: ‘The government’s current approach to legal aid and funding for the voluntary sector has seen us lose some of our front-line referral agencies as they move away from that type of work. The financial pressures on advice centres are also increasing.



‘Access to justice is a fundamental right and one which we at the FRU strongly believe in. Experience shows that getting the right legal advice and having someone to protect your interests ensures that justice is done.’



- The FRU is looking for more volunteers and referral agents. Its offices are at High Holborn. Call 020 7611 9555, or visit www.freerepresentationunit.org.uk