APPEAL | Justice First Fellowship

APPEAL

Job Title	Trainee Solicitor
Reports to	Director / Solicitor
Location	London
Grade/Salary	£32,000 per annum
Hours	37.5 hours per week

APPEAL is a charity and law practice that fights for a system in which people are at far less risk of miscarriages of justice and unfair sentences, and all such wrongs are righted as a matter of urgency.

Job Description

Work specification	Under the supervision of members of APPEAL’S casework team: Screening requests for assistance, investigating and litigating appeals against convictions and sentences in England and Wales, by making applications to the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) and the Criminal Cases Review Commission, and conducting civil, public law and information law litigation arising directly out of APPEAL’s cases Bringing a strategic approach to all casework to enable APPEAL to highlight broader problems in our criminal justice system and thus drive APPEAL’s reform efforts All duties must be carried out with the charitable aims and objectives of APPEAL in mind, and in compliance with APPEAL’s duties as an SRA regulated law practice.
Key responsibilities	The following is a non-exhaustive list of the role responsibilities:
Legal casework	Support the conduct of criminal appeal cases on behalf of convicted individuals seeking to challenge their wrongful conviction or unfair sentence. Under the supervision of members of the casework team, this will include: Screening applications from prisoners to identify miscarriages of justice relating to convictions and sentences alongside pro bono law firm partners. Conducting investigation of potential wrongful conviction and unfair sentence cases, including obtaining and analysing records, interviewing witnesses, instructing experts and reviewing crime scenes in search of fresh evidence. These cases will be spread across both APPEAL’s Innocence Initiative (conviction appeals) and Women’s Justice Initiative (women’s conviction and sentencing appeals, and challenging the use of imprisonment for debt, including in council tax and TV licensing cases); Drafting applications to the Criminal Case Review Commission and briefs to counsel or grounds of appeal to the Court of Appeal, as well as judicial review applications and information law challenges arising out of such matters; Attending Magistrates’ Court, Court of Appeal and Administrative Court hearings alongside other members of the casework team Making online and paper applications for funding for legal aid on cases for own work, and costs of counsel, experts and investigation; Working with pro bono law firm partners on developing and delivering an ‘Access to Justice Toolkit’ to assist those seeking to challenge their sentences and convictions from prison. This will include legal research, drafting an easy to understand and well-designed suite of materials usable by prisoners, and creating a dissemination plan to reach as many people in custody as possible. Submitting Freedom of Information requests on key APPEAL campaigning and policy reform areas, including Open Justice, Women’s Justice and broader miscarriage of justice issues, alongside APPEAL’s Communication and Policy Lead. Maintaining and analysing records of requests for assistance, to support APPEAL’s monitoring and evaluation; Maintaining APPEAL’s legal research repository
Communications and Campaigning	Supporting the team in implementing APPEAL’s communications and campaigning strategy to ensure that our casework can be used to leverage key system-wide policy and administrative reforms. This may include representing APPEAL to the media, legal community and elsewhere or contributing to APPEAL’s external platforms such as the blog, webpage, social media or newsletter.
General	Compliance with Training Contract requirements including documentation of training and development activities, including the professional skills course Compliance with SRA and Legal Aid Agency regulations and guidelines as well as in-house Practice Manual Supervising and training interns, law students and pro bono law firm partner personnel assigned to cases and projects Tracking 100% of time (including non-billable time) using contemporaneous timekeeping software. Contributing to the creation and the implementation of APPEAL’s annual strategic plan. Supporting APPEAL’s resource development, through producing case studies for grant applications Submitting expense documentation for direct costs incurred on a monthly basis. Attending Board meetings when requested. Assuming reasonable additional responsibilities in line with level of position.

Person Specification

Selection criteria		Essential	Desirable
Experience, Knowledge and Skills	Eligibility for training contract for role of Solicitor in England and Wales.	✓
	Strong grasp of the concept of strategic litigation and enthusiasm for this approach to reform.	✓
	Experience of working with vulnerable clients and their families, who have experienced trauma or mental health challenges and holistic client care skills	✓
	Zeal for obtaining, organising and analysing voluminous case documentation	✓
	A pro-active investigation approach where information is missing from the picture of the case already available	✓
	Impeccable written expression, ability to write well-organised and compelling narratives about a set of complex case facts and legal claims to submission standard	✓
	Excellent time management and time recording abilities	✓
	Track record of showing doggedness and resilience in the face of multiple and significant setbacks	✓
	Experience of practising strong self-care when dealing with difficult and traumatic experiences of people you work with or on behalf of.	✓
	Experience of supervising work product and managing case progression without externally imposed deadlines		✓
	Awareness of the procedures of the Criminal Cases Review Commission the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) and the Administrative Court (in the context of claims for Judicial Review) and of the access to justice shortcomings of their systems, and of the shortcomings of the current disclosure regime in criminal cases in England and Wales		✓
	Experience of all or some of the following: conducting investigation, including interviewing witnesses and open source research; working in a non-profit law practice or the NGO sector; the criminal justice system of a different jurisdiction;		✓
	Enthusiasm for using customised information technology for practice management, case analysis and team communications		✓
Personal attributes	Ability to work independently and be fully self-servicing when it comes to administrative tasks including typing and IT	✓
	Enjoy being part of a small, enthusiastic team working collaboratively towards achieving shared goals	✓
	Ability to work flexibly, including attending evening meetings and travelling to other parts of the country, sometimes staying overnight.		✓

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