‘New funder will support cases with tangible moral purpose’ , writes top UK legal commentator and lawyer Joshua Rozenberg
Joshua Rozenberg in A Lawyer Writes
Published on 14th February 2023
A new funding organisation will be formally launched next month to support legal claims that it regards as having a clear social benefit. Called Law for Change, it describes itself as “a funder of last resort supporting cases with a tangible moral purpose and a clear potential for legal success”.
The organisation was founded by Stephen Kinsella OBE, a commercial solicitor who set up the Laura Kinsella Foundation in memory of his daughter, and David Graham, a successful businessman who also set up a charity of his own. Both have provided funds for the new organisation, as have other philanthropic organisations and individuals.
The third founder is Charles Keidan, a philanthropy expert best known for campaigning for a change in the law that allowed opposite-sex couples to register as civil partners.
Asked why he was contributing to the project, Kinsella said yesterday:
Using the law as a tool of social change, we aim to increase access to justice, clarify the rights of under-represented groups and bring lasting reforms.
A panel of over 30 lawyers will advise Law for Change on cases to support. The fund also has an impact panel with the brief of ensuring that it concentrates on causes rather than cases. And it says that funding applications will not be considered unless they come from reputable lawyers with a track record of success.
Ahead of its formal launch, Law for Change has already supported a number of cases:
A claim by two academics whose fixed-term personal services contracts to teach Oxford University’s creative writing course were not renewed after 15 years.
A claim that the government has failed to implement recommendations by the the Grenfell Tower inquiry on emergency evacuation plans for disabled people.
A High Court challenge to the government’s Rwanda asylum policy.
A case brought by the human rights group Liberty challenging a gangs matrix held by Scotland Yard. This led to a complete overhaul of the database and the removal from it of more than 1,000 “low-risk” young men.
Liberty said afterwards:
The indemnity provided by Law for Change gave our clients the protection they needed to pursue their challenge against the Metropolitan Police Service’s racially discriminatory gangs matrix. We could not have done it without their support.
Unlike commercial litigation funders, Law for Change is not seeking to make a profit from the cases it supports. And unlike other litigation campaigners, it will not be relying on crowdfunding. For this reason, it can afford to take on cases that are unlikely to make headlines.
Another problem facing litigation campaigners is that some courts seem to be taking a stricter approach than before to the issue of legal standing, which requires claimants to have an interest in the issues they seek to litigate. As Law for Change will not be bringing cases in its own name, that problem is unlikely to arise in the claims it supports.