Our solicitors get stuck in to their local community
One of the great things about working at Miles & Partners is its location between the gleaming city skyscrapers and the vibrant and creative East End of London.
We encourage our staff to get involved in community projects and some of the recent and long-standing activities include:
Body & Soul – Legal Advice sessions
Lou Crisfield provides advice on housing and community care at a monthly free legal advice session for members of Body & Soul in Clerkenwell, a charity which provides support and services to people affected by HIV.
Charity runs
Several of our solicitors like to put on their running gear in aid of a good cause – and recent sponsored events include the Great North Run (raising £660 for Save The Children); the Royal Parks Half Marathon (raising £110 for Cancer Research UK, GOSH, Macmillan, and Tommy’s), the Half Marathon for Justice organised by the London Legal Support Trust to support Law Centres and pro bono agencies in and around London.
Cocktails in care homes with Magic Me
Kaileigh Hazeldine and Harriet Brame are regular volunteers with the charity Magic Me which hosts cocktail parties in care homes, providing an occasion for residents to socialise with friends, family and volunteers. Magic Me also came into the Miles & Partners office to provide training on working with the elderly and people with dementia.
London Legal Support Trust
The LLST supports the provision of specialist legal advice through law centres, advice agencies and citizens advice bureaux by providing them with grant funding alongside other forms of support. Miles & Partners support several of their events, including the London Legal Walk and the Great Legal Bake.
Hackney Migrant Centre
Housing caseworker Lou Crisfield provides free advice one afternoon per month at the Hackney Migrant Centre drop-in service. The Centre provides a weekly triage and legal advice drop in service, with advice on immigration, welfare law (including housing and community care) and health for refugees, asylum seekers and other migrants in need.
Southall Black Sisters
Instead of sending traditional Christmas cards in 2020, the firm sent e-cards and made a donation to Southall Black Sisters, a charity which highlights and challenges all forms of gender-related violence against women and empower them to gain control over their lives.
Tower Hamlets – housing drop ins
For around 12 years, the housing law team at Miles & Partners Solicitors has been supporting the Tower Hamlets Law Centre by supervising their free monthly drop-in housing advice sessions. Lou Crisfield supervises a group of volunteers whose role is to provide advice and support to people with housing problems.
Training on homelessness for Shelter
Lou Crisfield has been a trainer for the homeless charity Shelter since 2004, delivering courses on housing rights and domestic abuse; homelessness; disrepair; security of tenure; and young people’s housing rights.
Vibrance’s Phoenix Group
Vibrance was established in 1989 and provides a range of services to adults with a disability across London and the south east of England. Its Phoenix Group is a community hub based in Spitalfields, which is home to a vibrant café that offers work placements and experience to people with learning disabilities. It was chosen as the firm’s charity for the year in 2019.