2024 Host recruitment now open

Applications are now open for our 2024 Justice First Fellowship Host recruitment round. The closing date for applications is Thursday 7 March 2024.

Each year, we award a grant to a number of social welfare legal organisations which supports them to employ a trainee solicitor (Justice First Fellow) over the two years of their training contracts. This grant also covers mandatory training and examination costs for Fellows. Successful applicants from the 2024 Host recruitment round will begin hosting Fellows in April 2025.

In the past decade, Fellows have been hosted in over 70 organisations in all four nations of the UK. Hosts have included organisations like Clan Childlaw, Public Law Project, Just for Kids Law and Law Centre NI, and we want to increase the spread and diversity of our Host organisations even further. We offer sessions for Hosts where they can build relationships with each other and share training best practice with one another.

To be eligible, your organisation must either:

•  meet the requirements set out by the relevant regulatory authority to supervise a trainee solicitor (SRA | Law Society of Scotland | Law Society of Northern Ireland)
  or
• apply in partnership with an organisation which can provide the appropriate supervision.

Most Hosts are not-for-profit providers of legal advice, but some are private law firms committed to social justice or charities without a legal team who have partnered with another organisation. If your organisation does not have a solicitor, you could consider partnering with a firm who can support this aspect of the Fellowship. If you have not been a Host before or are considering if a partnership application is right for you, get in touch with us here.

Find out more about hosting a Justice First Fellow here.