By volunteering your time and expertise you can help change the course of a child's life forever.

Cuts to legal aid and local government funding mean that the resources of nonprofits are being stretched like never before. At the same time, we're seeing an increase in the number of people who need legal advice and representation. In order to increase our capacity to meet the legal needs of children and young people, we want to harness the skills and expertise of the UK's legal community. 

Together with our pro bono partners we can build and sustain our capacity to provide specialist, quality legal representation to children and young people with irregular or temporary immigration status. 

The other beneficiaries of pro bono

Well actually, that's you! Research suggests that volunteering your time and expertise has the following effects:

• Giving your time to others makes you feel like you have more time
• You develop new skills and experiences which can help further your career
• People who volunteer have lower rates of depression and greater functional ability

How we help you

We support pro bono lawyers so that they can take on a case from start to finish. That means that our pro bono lawyers help a child, young person or their parent prepare and submit an application for citizenship or permission to reside in the UK.

None of our pro bono lawyers are immigration specialists which is why we provide training and close supervision throughout the process. Our supervising lawyers come to your office so that you can fit your pro bono work around your job.

Kids in Need of Defense UK pro bono partners receive training from an experienced immigration lawyer, legal resources and template documents. Our supervising lawyers are on hand to answer queries, attend client appointments with pro bono lawyers and check work.

“Telephoning Karla to tell her the good news is definitely one of the highlights of my career. Having endured a tough start to life, she was finally able to plan for her future. It was an incredible privilege to help her on her journey.”

Helena Milner-Smith, Special Counsel at Covington & Burling LLP

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