Dazzling decade

The SJ team, suitably suited and booted, headed off to the Royal College of Surgeons last week to attend the London Legal Support Trust's 10th anniversary party.

John and me, accompanied with the incredible HoCS (our head of content strategy) Fiona Tucker and reports content manager Helen Roche from our sister company ARK, celebrated a decade of one organisation's dedication to access to justice, with a lot of sparkle.

(Picture L to R: John van der Luit-Drummond, Fiona Tucker, Helen Roche and Laura Clenshaw)

Legal hack John proceeded to swoop in on some of the big name attendees - you can read about his 'starry' encounter with former attorney general Dominic Grieve in SJ about town online next week -and the incredible HoCS and I busied ourselves making some flamingo friends (see left), before trying and failing to have a photo taken with legal 'celeb' Judge Rinder. Maybe we'll work on our networking skills before we go anywhere next time.

It would be inadmissible though, not to mention our hosts, Bob Nightingale and Natalia Ryamszewska. The LLST has moved from strength to strength over the past ten years, and this year raised over half a million pounds for its flagship event, the London Legal Walk.

But despite the hilarity of Bob's jaunty gold hat, unmissable as you surveyed the room, the sombre reality of pro bono and legal aid is being felt by the public, and by the profession. But that's why the LLST and its regional subsidiaries have such overwhelming support for the legal profession, because, as Bob said, lawyers 'get' pro bono work, whether they're from a high street or City firm.

SJ will continue to support the LLST's work at a time when the government is making it nigh on impossible for ordinary people to obtain legal advice. We'd also love to know what initiatives you are involved in, so let us know what you're up to during #probono week on Twitter.