Barrister or Bankrupt: End of an era

[Me with Judith March, Director of the PSU. I learnt so much working under her, and feel tremendously indebted.]

My contract at the Personal Support Unit (PSU) came to an end on Monday. I knew it was coming as I was temporarily covering my predecessor's maternity leave, however I must be finding it difficult to let go - last night I dreamt that the Director and I were showing Gordon Brown round the office.

In the 14 months I was in post the PSU has enjoyed many small successes. I was a mere witness to most, though there are a few triumphs I can take some credit for. LA and I produced a handbook for volunteers, an attempt to consolidate the charity's knowledge of assisting litigants-in-person into one document. Getting the tone right was no mean feat. A high-level editorial meeting was hastily convened after I wrote the following guidance for poorly volunteers: "Instructions for volunteers calling in sick: 1. Don't call in sick."

MB and I spent many a late night upgrading the IT systems. We reduced fiddlyness, delivered big productivity gains and increased security all at very low cost. The Pizza Guy had never delivered to "Royal Courts of Justice, Strand" before.

Under the stewardship of DC the office and the PSU Events Committee organised a very successful fundraising dinner in October. We raised almost half of the Unit's annual budget that night. The only thing that went wrong were the acoustics, as only a handful of the 550 guests could hear Lord Norwich or any of the other speakers. AC's words cheered me up no end at the end of the night: "I didn't need to hear it Filip. I've heard it all before".

It almost goes without saying that I gained so much more at the PSU than I could possibly have put in. This job made me certain of wanting to become a barrister. I spent cumulative weeks in the Court of Appeal, High Court, Royal Courts of Justice Costs Office and Wandsworth County Court. Judges often leave the PSU to explain to the litigant-in-person what has happened in court and I remember very vividly the first time a High Court judge and I exchanged knowing glances: "did you get all that, are you able to help"? "Yes my lord, no problem".

The PSU works in close cooperation with all of the major London-based legal charities and I was lucky enough to have worked with the Free Representation Unit, the Bar Pro Bono Unit, the Royal Courts of Justice Citizen's Advice Bureau, LawWorks, the Legal Aid Practitioners' Group, the Legal Action Group, the BPP Pro Bono Centre, PILARS. Many fantastic people who could be making pots of cash elsewhere but are instead committed to improving access to justice in the English legal system.

I have observed some fantastic advocacy, not only from trained lawyers. The Nigerian client who represented himself and stopped the Home Office deporting him by arguing that "transacting business" is not the same as "work". The client who has been pursuing her case for so long that it is a lead case on the subject of disclosure of documents. Some litigants even decide to represent themselves as they are convinced they will appear more sincere to the judge (note to all potential litigants-in-person: These are very rare exceptions to the fact that the system is not designed for unqualified people to speak for themselves. Get a lawyer, if you can).

The PSU volunteers are a breed apart and I cannot praise them enough. If you go to the PSU office you are bound to meet a future silk among the students. The non-student volunteers are a case study in breaking apart stereotypes of The Volunteer. Some might strike you as the type to have zero patience yet they will fill out endless forms for an illiterate client. Some are so busy they do half a day between sitting on the Magistrate's Bench and jetting off to Cape Town. Some commute in from Somerset to "do a day" at the PSU. At my leaving do I said that there are no better models of humanity, compassion and well-targeted intelligence to follow and I sincerely meant it.

Looking to the future, BoB thinks the Unit should go national and the Government should pay for a substantial part of it. Funding the PSU in the county courts should not be a resource battle between it and civil legal aid. We would all like everyone who cannot afford a lawyer to be represented to the fullest, however without deep reform I don't think this is possible. In the meantime a trained PSU volunteer can provide a very effective safety net from coming up against access to justice issues. They are cheap, too - three pounds for lunch plus travel expenses to and from home. Some even have freedom passes.

Mr. Brown, the Personal Support Unit is at the forefront of cooperation between the Public and Charitable Sectors. This alliance has been much-hyped of late, and I am absolutely convinced that the level of involvement between the civil servant and the volunteer isn't anywhere near what it could be to maximise the contribution of good people with free time. I have spent a little time at the Department of Constitutional Affairs and can report that the mandarins I met care an awful lot about improving things. It is exactly this position at the meeting-point of the Executive, the Judiciary, the Legal Profession and the Charitable Sector (infinitely more diverse than the rest) that has made the PSU experience so rewarding for me. I recommend a visit to Room M104, Royal Courts of Justice at your earliest opportunity.

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Comments

It certainly is the end of an era – you will be a hard act to follow what with your natural flare for innovation and creativity. In saying this, I have no doubt that I speak on behalf of all of the volunteers.

The PSU is thoroughly deserving of your remarks, as it is an organisation which truly embraces and assists litigants-in-person when others have in effect “shut the door in their face”.

Here’s hoping that your dream does indeed materialise and prove to be a reality.

Posted by: NR | March 11, 2007 at 12:59 PM