8 November 2019

Street Child United

During the last 12 months, LDI had a slight change to its’ pro bono work by entering into our first large-scale pro bono project working with our friends at Street Child United. LDI were excited to get involved in the handling of visa applications for 100 individuals (80 street-connected children plus team leaders) so they could travel to the UK and participate in the first Street Child Cricket World Cup.

LDI recognises how children are adversely affected by legal rigidity without access to justice and proper legal representation. Street-connected children the world-over struggle to obtain official proof of identity as a result of circumstances they were born into. LDI’s commitment to assisting this group is borne from the basic principles of equality and respect for all. It was a wonderful experience with our team working closely with charities from countries such as Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Tanzania to enable participating street-connected young people to establish an identity and travel overseas to represent their countries in the UK.

There were challenges along the way.. many street-connected children are estranged from their parents and cared for by NGOs in the respective countries. Guardianship arrangements for children differed across countries and charities and LDI had to navigate different systems and requirements. Undeterred our team worked with the different NGOs to obtain culturally and legally appropriate supporting evidence. We are grateful to the Home Office for collaborating with us and Street Child United to ensure all participants were able to obtain visas to travel to the UK to enjoy a festival of cricket whilst raising awareness of the need for the protection of street-connected children across the world.

Whilst pro bono work continues to be part of our everyday work and culture at LDS, our work on the Street Child Cricket World Cup has been a huge project for our London office. Everyone feels proud to be part of the project and relished the opportunity of representing those who often do not have a voice in society.

Here For Good Law

The B-word has had a huge impact on our clients over the last three years but also highlighted the need for legal representation for the more vulnerable members of our society. We are proud that our Senior Solicitor Zeena Luchowa volunteers on a regular basis for Here For Good Law, a charity which provides free immigration advice to EEA nationals and their families – something that is needed now more than ever. Advice is provided on the various routes that individuals and their family members may need to take in order to secure their immigration status in the UK post-Brexit. Assistance is also provided with nationality applications for vulnerable individuals and children, often where there are complications involved. We also had the pleasure in taking part in the Mayor of London’s ‘We Are All Londoners’ event in September, celebrating European culture and communities. With a team of lawyers from various organisations, we were able to provide advice to over 500 Londoners throughout the day. One individual provided the following comment after the event:

“I am still quite overwhelmed by your kindness and I am so very grateful that you took the time to stick with me through the whole protracted process. I think if it hadn’t been for you, I would still sit here today putting it off, thinking that I have to do it at some point. It feels like an achievement in a strange way, although I still think that it’s not right that EU citizens are put through this. But I accept some battles are not worth fighting.  

I can’t thank you enough. You really have made a difference and I am glad we have met!”