HCLC News

Hackney Community Law Centre joined the Hackney 'More in Common' festival on Saturday the 17th of June 2017. The Hackney event, which took place at the Hackney Community College, was one of thousands around the UK celebrating the life of the late Jo Cox MP.

We are delighted to have welcomed Sir Henry Brooke to Hackney Community Law Centre.

The Law Centre is now recruiting legal graduates as interns & day volunteers for the period Monday 3 July to Friday 29 September 2017.

Our immigration caseworker, Sonia Lenegan (pictured right) has been successful in winning a number of asylum appeals since she joined Hackney Community Law Centre (HCLC). One of her recent cases involved Sonia appealing a Home Office decision after it dismissed a HCLC client's application for asylum. Our client, a gay man from Algeria, was originally told by the Home Office that they didn't bel

Hackney Community Law Centre (HCLC) is deeply honoured to have received a donation for £500 from Lady Antonia Fraser DBE. Lady Antonia is is a British author of history, novels, biographies and detective fiction. Her first major work was a 1969 biography of Mary, Queen of Scots, which was followed by several other biographies, including Cromwell, Our Chief of Men in 1973. 

Good news for our client Julius Holgate! On Wednesday 22nd February 2017, Julius (pictured right with his HCLC caseworker Marcin Brajta) received a letter from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) informing him that it would no longer refuse to pay him Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). Back in January, Julius - a double amputee with no legs - approached HCLC for help after the DWP a

Hackney Community Law Centre is delighted to welcome Sonia Lenegan to the team as our new immigration solicitor! Sonia (pictured right) joined Hackney Community Law Centre in January 2017, having previously volunteered at South West London Law Centre when she was a Legal Practice Course student. She has volunteered with Camden Law Centre since 2013. Sonia was admitted to the roll as a solicitor

In January, Hackney Community Law Centre (HCLC) was approached by Julius Holgate, a disabled double amputee (pictured above). Mr Holgate had applied for the Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) benefit and been asked to attend a medical assessment. Despite having no legs, Mr Holgate was awarded a total of 0 points by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) officer who conducted the ass

On Wednesday 25th January 2017, Miranda Grell, HCLC's development officer, addressed a conference organised by the Westminster Legal Policy Forum. The conference was entitled "Legal innovation and the business of law: technology, skills and new business models". Miranda gave a joint presentation with Jimmy Vestbirk, the founder of Legal Geek who organised a hackathon for HCLC last year. Mirand

We are delighted to announce that, with the help of students and pro bono staff from BPP Law School, our services to: a) help people with debt and consumer law problems; and b) help people fill out their Disability Living Allowance (DLA), Employment Support Allowance (ESA) and Personal Independence Payment (PIP) forms has reopened. Debt and consumer service To find out how to make an a

HCLC housing solicitor Jamille Mohammed (pictured right) was recently on duty at Clerkenwell & Shoreditch County Court. This meant that he was required to advise, assist and represent anyone attending the court that day who didn't already have a solicitor. As always, there were lots of people waiting and Jamille prevented a number of defendant tenants from being evicted. One housing associa

SEASON'S GREETINGS FROM EVERYONE AT HACKNEY COMMUNITY LAW CENTRE! Thank you for your support in 2016 and we look forward to continuing to work with you in 2017! We are closed from 1pm on Friday 23rd December 2016 until 10am on Tuesday 3rd January 2017.

Hackney Community Law Centre held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Monday 28th November 2016. We were delighted to be joined by our patron Jean Lambert MEP who gave the keynote address. Jean sits on a number of committees in the European Parliament. She is a member of The Employment and Social Affairs Committee working on issues including immigration, social inclusion, workers’ rights an

HCLC is delighted to welcome two new housing solicitors to the team! Jamille Mohammed (pictured above left) joined Hackney Community Law Centre as a housing solicitor and supervisor in November 2016. He graduated in 2002 with an honours degree in Law and completed his Legal Practice Course in 2007. Jamille has practised in housing law ever since, specialising in all aspects of housing law. Jamill

Hackney Community Law Centre’s next Annual General Meeting will take place at 7pm on Monday 28th November 2016 at the Halkevi Community Centre, 31 - 33 Dalston Lane, Hackney, London E8 3DF

We are delighted that HCLC Patron Jean Lambert, a Member of the European Parliament representing London, will be addressing the meeting as the key note speaker. Jean La

We're delighted to report that HCLC's Diane Morrison has recently won a big case in the Employment Tribunal.

Diane represented a former Local Authority employee who was forced to resign from her job after 8 years of service. The client was found to have been let down by several managers, all of whom had failed to follow internal procedures to protect her from harassment over a one and half y

HACKNEY COMMUNITY LAW CENTRE seeks Immigration Solicitor: 

Salary subject to experience Key duties: To provide specialist casework and representation in all areas immigration and asylum law in CLR and certificated work including judicial reviews and Upper Tribunal appeals to Court of Appeal. To ensure compliance with Legal Aid Agency contract and funding requirements. To attract and

HCLC is delighted to welcome Marcin Brajta to the Centre as our new Welfare Benefits caseworker.

Marcin began working at HCLC in September 2016. He previously worked for Stirling Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) as their Income Maximisation and Debt Caseworker. He also worked on housing, employment and immigration cases, acting as a trainer on immigration law to all new trainee advisors. Marcin als

Our Senior Housing Solicitor Nathaniel Mathews (pictured above) had an eventful day last Wednesday.

Read all about it below. Jungle And so to the Gee Street Court House for my stint as Duty Solicitor, to represent any tenant without a lawyer in the undefended possession list. A list where sometimes there are as little as five minutes a case for the District Judges to decide on who must sta