WE ARE RECRUITING FOR A LEGAL VOLUNTEER – APPLY NOW!

Job Title: Legal Volunteer, Community Programme 

Salary: Voluntary. Reasonable lunch and travel expenses will be reimbursed.

Hours: One day per week (Friday), for a minimum of six months

Duration: October 2018 – March 2019

Application deadline: 28th September 2018

Interviews: 4th and/or 5th October 2018 (flexible)

Starting date: 12th October 2018

To Apply: Please send your CV and a covering letter to brian@migrantsorganise.org

Purpose of the post: 

Migrants Organise is a platform where migrants and refugees organise for power, dignity and justice. We work across the UK to bring community organisations, individuals, and institutions together on a common platform to act with, not for, migrants and refugees. We aim to make our communities stronger, more powerful and create spaces for us to speak out on issues affecting migrants and refugees, from isolation, discrimination, immigration policy, structural racism and more.

The Community Programme at Migrants Organise is currently supporting more than 280 individuals through its work. We match asylum seekers and refugees with volunteer mentors for one-to-one support, offer casework support and run weekly activities (eg. English classes, Sewing Group, Poetry Group).

We also run a Legal Support Project headed by a barrister from No5 Chambers. The project is unique in its approach in that it provides an all encompassing legal support – clients can come in with a variety of legal problems ranging from immigration, family, crime and even property and contract. The purpose of the project is to give personal legal support to one of the most vulnerable communities in London.

The Legal Support Project is looking for a legal volunteer who will available on Fridays (no other day) to work with our barrister and Legal Organiser from October 2018 to March 2019. Reasonable lunch and travel expenses will be reimbursed. You need to be able to commit for at least six months.

Post responsibilities:

  • Helping with general office administration
  • Interviewing clients
  • Collecting relevant evidence for the purpose of various applications or appeals
  • Helping clients to make inquiries or write various responses to various organisations such as the Home Office, local councils, other charitable organisations, etc.
  • Finding destitute grants
  • Finding accommodations for homeless clients
  • Helping to apply for various benefits such as PIP, ESA, Asylum Support, Housing Benefits, etc.
  • Applying for HC1 NHS Certificates
  • Helping clients apply for bail for immigration detention
  • Accompanying clients to hearings in tribunals
  • Referring clients to solicitors or other organisations such as ASAP, BID, etc.
  • Accompanying clients to solicitor meetings
  • Applying for Exceptional Case Funding for Legal Aid
  • Making witness statements etc.

Skills and knowledge required:

  • Ability to speak clearly and confidently adapting style to needs of members
  • Ability to produce clear well-structured written information and advice
  • An ability to build good rapport with vulnerable migrants and refugees
  • A commitment to equality & diversity and the rights of all individuals to respect and fair treatment
  • Ability to work proactively and being self-sufficient

About Migrants Organise                                                                                             

How do we work?

  • We speak out. We make our voices heard, and we take a stand on the issues that affect us. We talk about the issues that matter to refugees and migrants. We tell our stories, and we create opportunities for our voice to be heard.
  • We connect people. We act relationally, to help people belong. People need connections to belong and thrive with dignity. We see strength and resilience in our individual identities and experiences as people. We connect people with resources.
  • We grow power.We recognise and use power to make change. We provide a platform for people to be powerful and develop skills, leadership, confidence and connections.
  • We build common ground.We bring diverse people together around shared issues, on a shared platform. We create spaces for people to find common ground and shared perspectives for action.

What do we do?

  • We organise: we work with communities to act for change. We develop leaders to understand their power, their issues, and how to build actions for change.
  • We mobilise: we bring people to strategic actions and campaigns. We urge and support people to take action on the issues affecting migrants and refugees.
  • We mentor: we support and advise people, and connect people with others who can provide support and advice on the journey to integration. We connect people with others who can share knowledge, experience or friendship.
  • We train: we develop people’s skills, confidence, experience and capacity to act. We use workshops, training sessions, action and experience to help people to develop.
  • We celebrate: we find and create platforms to recognise people. We celebrate migrants and refugees and their contributions.

We know that immigration is a complex issue, and that xenophobia and negative discourse can’t be changed overnight, or by one person. That’s why we’re building a movement of migrants and refugees whose integration and contribution to their communities is a positive story that needs to heard. We want to act as a platform for migrants and refugees to own their stories with dignity and not be reduced to one-dimensional experiences or suffering.

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