PILA recently facilitated a partnership between the Children's Rights Alliance and Eversheds Sutherland. Julie Ahern, Legal and Policy Manager, Children’s Rights Alliance, reflects on the partnership:
We in the Children’s Rights Alliance are delighted to have entered into a new pro-bono partnership with Eversheds Sutherland. The partnership, facilitated by the Public Interest Law Alliance, will see Eversheds Sutherland providing pro-bono legal clinics to children and families who contact the Alliance’s legal services for information and advice. The Alliance Helpline and Legal Advice Clinics were established to provide legal information specifically about children’s rights and free one-to-one legal advice appointments with a solicitor for children and/or their parents. The Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated the legal issues faced by children and families. The partnership with Eversheds Sutherland will mean a greater number of families can avail of the Children’s Rights Alliance’s services through an increased number of free legal advice clinics.
Commenting on the partnership Eoin Mac Aodha, Partner at Eversheds Sutherland said: “We are delighted to partner with the Children’s Rights Alliance and to support those in need who contact the helpline seeking legal advice. We recognise, particularly as a result of lockdown, that there are significant challenges for children and young people and we want to use our privilege of legal expertise to assist some of the most vulnerable people in our society. We hope the legal clinics, in some small way, will provide legal assistance by contributing to people’s understating and awareness of their legal rights and improve their access to justice.
“This is the first time that we have done pro bono work solely focused on children’s rights. At Eversheds Sutherland, we have a history of pro bono work. We have a pro bono committee and standardised approach to this work and we partner with the Public Interest Alliance to identify pro bono opportunities for our lawyers.”
The new partnership comes amid a time of growth for the Alliance’s legal services which saw its phoneline open an extra morning each week in response to increased demand during the pandemic. The Alliance recently launched its third helpline annual report which outlines that one in four callers had queries in relation to education – the first time that education has overtaken family law issues since the Helpline was established in 2018. You can find out more on the Children’s Rights Alliance website here.