My legal life: Michele Price, gunnercooke

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Charity and philanthropy partner, London

Watching episodes of Crown Court as a child inspired me to pursue a legal career. Growing up in poverty meant that I always wanted to fight for the underdog.

Michele Price

I was lucky that the Common Professional Exam and solicitors’ finals were state-funded when I took them, otherwise a career as a solicitor would not have been an option. I did my Articles with a high street firm in Islington, London, JP Malnick & Co. I had the most amazing and immersive experience being in at the deep end from day one. It taught me how to stand on my own feet as a problem-solver and advocate. I am not sure trainees in traditional firms get that raw experience today. I decided that I wanted to specialise in fraud and wrote to all the lawyers on the high-profile Guinness share-trading fraud case in the 1980s. I was fortunate that Monty Raphael of Peters & Peters took a chance on me as a newly qualified. It was one of the most groundbreaking firms of its time and this is a feature that also attracted me to gunnercooke.

I discovered charity work by chance. I was looking for an area of practice that I could be passionate about while looking after my three small children. It was also about making a difference to people’s lives.

I worked in-house at the Royal British Legion and was honoured to jointly head a specialist unit funded by the MoD to assist military families dealing with inquests arising from the conflict in Afghanistan. I had no idea of the scope of the services provided by the charity and its determination to meet the needs of the modern veteran. In the face of the most heartbreaking loss, I learned about humility, duty, service and the power of charities to change lives. I have worked in the sector ever since.

I have worked with the Food Foundation for a few years, but it was only after my move to gunnercooke that I was able to broaden my charities practice beyond purely legal services. The firm allows me to design my practice my way and embed myself in the work of the charities that I advise, something that would be difficult if I was at a law firm that was solely focused on maximising billable hours. Our firm has a purpose-driven culture that is so supportive of charities and good causes. It’s really refreshing. For instance, I am also working on national campaigns such as registering the charity Intractable Epilepsy, which is the first to meet private prescription costs of medicinal cannabis for children with epilepsy, and the highly topical Menopause Mandate, which I recently registered as a social enterprise.

'In the face of the most heartbreaking loss, I learned about humility, duty, service and the power of charities to change lives. I have worked in the sector ever since'

The Feed the Future campaign to extend free school meal provision is a coalition coordinated by the Food Foundation. It includes School Food Matters, Sustain, Bite Back 2030, Child Poverty Action Group, Impact on Urban Health, Jamie Oliver Ltd and Chefs in Schools, representing more than 500,000 teachers. Nearly 2 million children in England are eligible for the scheme but there are around 800,000 more living in poverty who are not entitled to this vital support.

We’ve recently partnered with the Independent and London Evening Standard to highlight an increasing hunger crisis among families living in poverty but are not eligible for free school meals. Anyone who’d like to support it can use a pre-drafted letter which is sent to their MP.

I had a dawning realisation that the Food Foundation’s free school meals campaign (#feedthefuture) was actually a really personal story. I was in a position to provide legal advice to the charity because I’d had the benefit of free school meals growing up. The phrase #freemademe came into my head at about 3am one morning. I ran the idea by the amazing team at the Food Foundation and we realised that there was something powerful in ordinary people being able to stand up and say that.

Working with the campaign team has been an incredible insight into the work and care that goes into such a high-profile national campaign. I grew up in poverty and homelessness and I’ve become a partner in an award-winning firm of solicitors #freemademe!