Community coaching

Trainee solicitors from City firm Eversheds are to work with community groups to educate them about the law in an initiative launched this week.

The Streetlaw scheme, organised in association with the College of Law and the Citizenship Foundation, means that Eversheds trainees work with College of Law students to prepare presentations and information on legal issues for community groups.

The groups - such as the elderly, unemployed or former prisoners - submit particular legal questions to the lawyers, who then research them, present the information to the groups and answer questions.

The sessions are intended to be educative, and involve role-playing, quizzes and discussion groups.

Typical questions address what people should do if they lose their jobs, whether they can complain about faulty goods, and what to do if they are arrested.

James Webber, a trainee at Eversheds and the scheme's project manager, said: 'The initiative is different from pro bono work because we are not giving advice on specific legal cases, but rather educating people about the law.'

The intention, he said, was to 'improve legal literacy', making people aware of their responsibilities under the law and what they could expect from it.

The scheme has been trialed, and Mr Webber said the trainees have worked with people who are going back into work after a long spell of unemployment, and need to learn about legal issues in the workplace.

They have also helped people such as former prisoners with the legal issues surrounding large debts.

Around 50 of Eversheds' trainees are involved with the scheme across the firm's Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham and London offices.

Victoria MacCallum