YLAL is 10 event & survey

YLAL is 10 years old in 2015

This year will be our 10th birthday and we would like to mark the occasion with your help.

Anniversary event

We are holding an event in central London to mark 10 years of YLAL.

This will be on Thursday 23 April 2015 and be from 6.30 pm – 9.00 pm at Southbank University (Elephant & Castle).

The event will celebrate 10 years as YLAL and look at how to achieve equality before the law, in the current climate and beyond.

Our keynote speaker is Baroness Patricia Scotland QC, the former Attorney General. The event will be compered by Owen Bowcott, the Guardian journalist.

We will have representatives from different political parties there to take part in a discussion on legal aid policy and how to ensure equality before the law. Current participants include:

Natalie Bennett (leader of the Green Party and candidate for Holborn and St Pancras in the general election)
Andy Slaughter (MP for Hammersmith and Shadow Justice Minister for the Labour party)
Elfyn Llwyd (MP for Dwyfor Meirionydd and leader of Plaid Cymru’s Westminster Group)

Please save the date now and keep an eye on the website and social media as we will update details for the event here, including how you can register your free place to attend.

We also hope members from outside London can attend. We will be offering some financial support for those on low incomes who would like help with travel costs.

We will also be holding an event in Kent on Tuesday 21st April from 6-8pm with speakers including Oliver Saxby QC (criminal barrister), Karen Todner (director of Kaim Todner and representative of Gary McKinnon), Nick Fairweather (director of a family and mental health law firm) and Louise Duckett (Kent JLD). The event will be chaired by Subashini Nathan (YLAL and paralegal at Birnberg Peirce and Partners).

Survey

We are asking all members to complete a survey to help us take stock of what we have done so far, and hear what you think about what is good, and what we can improve about YLAL for the future. Entries can be anonymous and no comments will be published with your name. It should take on average 5 minutes to complete.

Win a prize!

If you leave your email address we will enter you into a draw for a prize to be announced at our anniversary event, as a thank you for completing the survey.

Prizes include:

Lunch for two at Twist at Crawford, featured in Time Out (read the review here),
A photo with the famous Grayling puppet seen in news coverage of the legal aid actions last year
A year’s subscription worth £199 to “Legal Action”, the must-read publication for all legal aid lawyers (read more about the magazine here).

You can complete the survey here: http://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/YLALis10