A brief timeline history of our first few years:

2017:  EGLAC is launched as a new LawWorks affiliated legal advice clinic in National pro bono week 2017.  We hold our first face to face session in November.

2018:  Our first full year of operations.  We are advising in family, welfare benefits and civil litigation matters.  We end the year with the London Faith and Belief Forum award for Improving Access to services in our community. In addition, we were shortlisted for the LawWorks Best new pro bono activity.

2019:  We continue to expand our areas of advice to include employment, housing, property and community care.  We advise over 120 clients using the skills of 10 solicitors across our clinic sessions.

2020:  The pandemic leads us to move our advice largely on line through email, telephone or zoom meetings. We begin to offer Wills and probate advice.

2021:  We are developing a hybrid model of advice through both in person clinic sessions and online/remote advice to clients.  We are seeing an increasing number of students wanting to volunteer at the clinic.  We are using pro bono barristers to assist particularly in family and civil litigation work.

2022:  We plan to make EGLAC sustainable for the future by establishing ourselves as a Charitable body and to recruit a Clinic Director.

2023: We now have a Clinic Director managing our operations and supporting our volunteers. We are recruiting new volunteers to meet the increasing demand in requests for help with a wide variety of legal issues.

2024: We are now signatory members of the Law Society’s Pro Bono Charter and have received funding from Royal Borough of Greenwich, Allen & Overy Foundation and the National Lottery Community Fund. We are able to offer an additional virtual clinic once a month, with advice being given on a range of legal areas by volunteers from Birketts LLP. We receive a London Dangoor Award in the Response to the Cost-of-Living Crisis category

2025: We now have an additional virtual clinic once a month with advice being given on a range of legal issues by volunteers from McDermott Will & Emery.

“I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks for the invaluable support and legal assistance you have provided in relation to my housing situation. Your time, expertise, and commitment…have been a great source of reassurance during a very distressing period. I am particularly grateful for the thoughtful and compassionate approach taken in addressing my concerns and highlighting the procedural and legal failures in my case. Though my matter is ongoing, your intervention has given me hope and the confidence to pursue a fair resolution.” ~ EGLAC client