The 2018 Exeter Legal Walk recently took place. This 10km sponsored walk around the city sights is always a joy to be a part of.

Each year teams of solicitors, barristers, charity workers, students, friends and family, all come together to increase awareness and access to justice, by fundraising for the SWLST. The SWLST is a charitable Trust, tasked with enabling those who would otherwise not have access to legal support, to obtain the resources and information they are entitled to, yet cannot afford.
​
So far, our efforts have raised nearly £1,500! Let’s see if we can double that figure!   

The beautiful city of Bristol… yes it is hilly- but we didn’t let that stop us at the 2018 Legal Walk. Whilst working on building our calf muscles, the main aim of the walk was to raise money for South West Legal Support Trust; one of the eight Trusts spanning the whole of England and Wales, which work together as a network to increase access to justice, by supporting pro-bono legal advice agencies within their local region. 

In total, 235 walkers formed 32 different teams, and collectively raised nearly £7,500!! This is an awesome effort, and with donations still rolling in, who knows just how successful the 2018 walk will prove to be! Let’s try to smash last year’s record of over £10,000!!

All donations go towards the continuation of local community legal advice agencies, enabling them to support the most vulnerable in our society. This is a very worthy cause- so, if you’ve been inspired to invest into the lasting and life-changing positive work of pro-bono legal support services, head over to our website to donate now! :) 

Big thanks to this year’s sponsors: Red Recruitment, Irwin Mitchell Solicitors, and the Bristol Law Society. To our Lead Walkers: Becky Moyce, President of the Bristol Law Society, His Honour Judge Stephen Wildblood QC, Robert Bourns, former President of the Law Society of England and Wales, and finally, Helen Woolley, Head of bSquared Law- we sincerely thank you for the time you took out of your busy schedules to help us make the Bristol Legal walk such an enjoyable event to attend. Hopefully, we will see you all again next year! 

The Bristol legal walk is fast approaching and we are really getting excited about this upcoming event on Monday 18 September, try and make it down and help us make it bigger and better than last year’s walk. We are so happy to have 23 teams signed up and ready to go to raise money for local advice service, but there is always room for more to join. We are proud to have many excellent teams joining us, including Burges Salmon LLP and Bristol Employment Tribunal.


The South West Legal Support Trust, formed in 2007 is a grant-making charity to help raise and distribute funds to organisations providing pro bono legal aid in the region covering Dorset, Hampshire, Bristol and Cornwall. They provide free legal help to people facing serious issues regarding homelessness, debt and immigration. They desperately need funds to support their work. Receiving legal help makes an enormous difference to people’s lives, and if you take part in the legal walk you can help better someone’s life.


We are proud to have a prestigious firms in such as Bevan Brittan LLP and TLT- Bristol join us on the upcoming legal walk. Robert Bourns, Partner at TLT and former President of the Law Society of England and Wales will start the walk off, along with Beckky Moyce, current President of the Bristol Law Society and His Honour Judge Stephen Wildblood QC.
​
Sponsored by Bsquared Cost Law registration for the event will be open between 5.00pm – 5.30 pm, and we ask that all participants report to register before having a photo taken with our lead walkers. The event will end in the Bordeaux Quay, with a post-walk celebration at the end-venue where all the walkers can raise a complimentary glass to celebrate your enormous success. The lead walkers will also say a few words and everyone can rest their weary legs and revel in their success.
We would like to get as many people involved as possible, so gather your co-workers, friends, family and pets to join us for an evening of walking and fun. So come along, have a few laughs, walk a bit, all in aid for a great cause – Hope to see you there on the day.

​The Legal Walk season is just getting started here at the SWLST. Our first Legal Walk event of 2017 was held in Southampton on the 8th May where 74 people came out in force to brave the dreary weather and walk 10k, managing to raise an incredible £3,044! We want to say a huge thank you to all of you who got involved and raised money to support free legal advice in your local area. And not forgetting our brilliant sponsors and lead walkers all of whom have been simply incredible in helping make the event a success!
​
The next location for the SWLST Legal Walks will be Exeter on the 5th of June. We are thrilled to be visiting Exeter and look forward to meeting more walkers and raising funds raising funds which will be used to help individuals who would otherwise be unable to access vital legal advice. Furthermore, watch this space for more information on walks taking place later in the year. The SWLST will be holding Legal Walks in Bristol on the 19th September and Plymouth on the 2nd October – You can find out more information and sign up on our website: www.swlst.org.uk/our-events

Exciting news here at the South West Legal Support Trust! We are holding our next Legal Walk in Southampton on Monday 8th May and with just over 5 weeks to go before the big day there is still plenty of time to come together with your colleagues or friends and get involved for a great cause.

Starting at 5.30pm from Southampton Crown Court, the 10k route can be walked at your own pace! Upon completion of the route there will be the opportunity to all come together and have some well-deserved refreshments. Additionally, we are holding a photography challenge during the walk so please remember to take some photographs and share them with us afterwards @SouthWestLST using the hashtag #legalwalk.
​
We are fundraising because a reduction in Government and Local Authority spending has impacted the most vulnerable people in our communities, preventing access to legal advice for those who desperately need it.  Our fundraising events such as the Southampton Legal Walk and the recent Great Legal Bake, are of vital importance to support continued provision of services and overcome the damaging impacts of funding cuts. Help us help those who need legal advice, walk with us in Southampton on Monday 8th May!

Talking of baking, our recent Legal Bake fundraiser held during February was a great success! Raising an incredible £33,000 across all Support Trusts in the UK. The money raised in each area will be used to keep legal advice free and available to all.

We are always looking for more teams to get involved, and now that the days are getting longer and (hopefully) warmer there is no excuse! So if you enjoy walking and supporting great causes this is for you.  If you haven’t signed up yet, not to worry, follow the link and enter a team today! Together we can help support local legal advice agencies.  --> www.swlst.org.uk/southampton-legal-walk

The Great Legal Bake is on its way!

The Great Legal Bake cannot come fast enough and as the days speed by the numbers of bakers continues to grow! We now have 75 bakers committed to getting their scales out to support local advice agencies in their mission to ensure access to justice for all.

Last year we had 77 bakers get involved, and we’re already hoping to beat that number this year. After raising over £20,000 last year let’s all get our whisks at the ready to raise even more in 2017!

The South West Legal Support Trust is doing great so far with ​Magdalen Chambers and Abels Solicitors just signing up to join many others to make this Great Legal Bake the best one so far. You can see who’s already signed up here.

We’re very excited to start baking and hope you will all join us! 

​Not long now - we're excited for the South West Legal Support Trust Great Legal Bake!
 
​We are really excited about the Great Legal Bake coming up in just over one month from February 20th-24th. We already have 50 teams organised so far, all ready to bake and raise funds to support access to advice for all. Last year, we raised over £20,000 in baking efforts, and are looking forward to surpass that amount in baking extravaganzas this year. 
 
The South West Legal Support Trust was established to support the provision of free legal advice in the South West and the Great Legal Bake is an important part of our fundraising activities. The organisations we support make a huge difference in the lives of many people. The recent cuts to legal aid and reduced household income for many working families has increased demand for free access to specialist legal advice and it is more important than ever that the poorest and most vulnerable people in our community have access to such support. For example, the trust has supported projects such as the Public Law Project which included gaining "exceptional funding" necessary to prevent breaches of fundamental rights.  
 
During the week, there will be bakes across the country at various firms and organisations. This is an opportunity for lawyers to showcase their inner Mary Berry’s and show off their baking talents in support for a great legal cause. Cupcakes, cookies and cakes at work (savoury and sweet) - what’s not to love!
 
We would like to get as many people involved as possible, so gather your co-workers, friends and family to get involved in the baking to raise vital funds for legal advice agencies!
​

As a result of meeting Plymouth's frontline Free Legal Advice Charities, our wonderful friends at the Undeground Plymouth have decided to hold a multi genre benefit gig in aid of the South West Legal Support Trust. The bill will include

​WARCRAB
Plymouth doom and beard merchants 
BUS STATION LOONIES
P Town punk veterans
PISS MIDGET
New 2-piece angular post punk
SMILING POLITELY 
90s emo meets Brand New
PUBLIC BAND
Lairy indie punk
ALLEY KAT KINGS
Punky rock-a-billy

Entry fee is by donation (minimum £3) and all profits go to the SWLST.
 
Come support your local scene, support our community, and have a boogie!
 
For more information, please click on the following Facebook link 
 
https://www.facebook.com/events/1294066213986208/
 
 #accesstojustice #WeDoProBono 

As part of National Pro Bono Week, over 70 organisations signed themselves up for the biggest quiz of the year. South West Legal Support Trust teams tested their knowledge of everything from films to the Olympics to raise funds in support of access to justice in the South West of England.
 
A big thanks to teams from Bond Dickinson (Bristol), North Bristol Advice Centre and the University of Exeter - School of Law

Topping the fundraising leader board in the South West so far are the North Bristol Advice Centre who raised an amazing £110.00 However, funds are still coming in and we’re confident that this will be the most successful Great Legal Quiz yet!
 
All teams did a great job in raising money, and we are very grateful to everyone for pulling out all the stops to raise as much money as possible to support access to justice in the South West.
 
The charities supported by The Great Legal Quiz help thousands of people every year gain access to justice. These charities are often the last resort for people facing difficult and distressing legal circumstances but without the resources to pay for private legal advice. Without this charitable work many vulnerable people would be left alone to navigate the court and justice system without any advice or support.
 
The national winners will be announced very shortly – watch this space!
​

​It is time to warm up those brains as the Great Legal Quiz is fast approaching. If you would like to take part, there is still time for you to join us by registering here.

We currently have 3 teams signed up in the South West, all raising vital funds to support access to advice for all. 
 
The Quiz is completely self-run: we supply the questions and advertisement posters. Advice organisations can use the Great Legal Quiz to fundraise completely for their own organisation or if you are not an advice organisation then you can split the funds 50/50 between the SWLST and a charity of your choice. All you need to do is sign up and prepare to get quizzed!

The charities supported by the Great Legal Quiz help thousands of people every year gain proper access to justice. These charities are often the last resort for people facing difficult and distressing legal circumstances but without resources to pay for private legal advice. Without this charitable work, many vulnerable people would be left alone to navigate the court and justice system without any advice or support. 

We are very excited for Wednesday and we hope that you all are too! But please keep spreading the word and get as many people involved as possible, the questions will not be law-focused so anyone with any general knowledge is invited to participate.
We are so grateful to everyone taking part, the event would not be possible without your contribution.