The Solicitors Regulation Authority’s recent Compliance Officers Conference in Birmingham had many weighty subjects that provided the attending COLPS and COFAs with food for thought. Smaller matters also came to the fore.
Trustees from the Law Society’s independent charity (registered charity number 268736), including former Law Society president Joe Egan as the charity’s chairperson, were on hand to assist with the perennial problem for firms in dealing with residual orphan client balances. The charity is able to receive unclaimed client balances and put those funds to good use, whilst allowing firms to close those lingering files. The charity provides an indemnity for the amount received and is happy to work with donating firms to obtain the necessary SRA approval, where this is required. A win-win situation for firms and the charity.
The charity uses the funds, through the making of grants, to support organisations working to: promote human rights; increase access to justice; and to improve legal education in the public domain - both at home and abroad. These are causes close to the heart of many practising solicitors who volunteer time and contribute financially to local projects, such as legal clinics. This is where many solicitors started their legal careers.
The charity encourages solicitors and firms engaged in these activities within their local communities to encourage eligible organisations to apply to the charity for a grant. The charity doesn’t want to just collect funds, it wants to spend it.
One recent example is the support that the charity gave to the Prisoners’ Advice Service (PAS) to support its work with adult prisoners with the provision of outreach clinics inside prison walls. In the last year a grant from the charity allowed PAS to deliver 71 clinics, providing assistance to 513 prisoners in 15 prisons across England & Wales, including Category A prisons.
The grant also funded guides for prison libraries on topics including: 'Children and the Law', a guide for imprisoned parents; assisting prisoners with disabilities; discrimination, including for LGBT+ prisoners (the first of their kind); and information for foreign nationals.
Many of the activities supported by the charity are unable to obtain funding elsewhere, may not have established or significant income streams, and often meet the needs of those excluded, under-represented or disadvantaged groups in society.
The donation of residual account balances makes a difference and helps the legal profession to support many causes.
For more details please visit the Law Society website.
Ian Bond is a trustee of the Law Society Charity
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