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Values into Community Action | 2007-2008 Crisis Consequences At the end of last year, Crisis asked for our help with a unique pro bono matter which is estimated to raise £250,000 to support Crisisʼ work. Here is how the matter was described in the January 2008 edition of Articles & Opinions, Allen & Overy’s monthly in-house magazine: Facing the consequences When A&O lawyers Jim Ford and Katie Spooner were asked to work on a high-profile project to help the homeless involving rock stars Paul Weller, Beth Ditto and Supergrass, they jumped at the chance. Jim, partner, and Katie, associate, both work in the Corporate practice. They can usually be found working on intellectual property, patent licensing and outsourcing agreements. So when asked if they would like to take some time to work on a major event in rock history, go to a star-studded concert, and help a worthy cause, the answer was a resounding yes. So they got to work setting up contracts to enable a bevy of big rock stars to record a single for UK homeless charity Crisis, which has a long-standing relationship with A&O. The work, which has all been done on a pro bono basis, has helped Crisis to get a number of artists from different recording labels together to record the song, which will be released early next year. Jim, Katie and others are also working on the contracts for a follow up music festival happening in London next March. A&O’s involvement began just three weeks before the recording when the Pro Bono and Community Affairs team approached Jim asking if he could work on the project. Jim says: “In terms of the law involved, it hasn’t been too different from what we normally do, but the subject matter has made it very interesting. We work across A&O’s corporate and finance client base, and so this presented us with a very different world that was both challenging and fun.” Katie adds: “Our main focus has been negotiating waivers to allow each artist to record the song, as their record companies usually insist they exclusively work for them. It’s hard work because we are dealing with six different record companies and there wasn’t much time to get everything in place. But it’s worth it. The people at Crisis are understandably really excited about this project, and that has been infectious.” The single – called Consequences – was recorded throughout one week in November by acts including The Enemy, New Young Pony Club, and Drew McConnell from Babyshambles. It followed the pattern of the children’s game consequences, in which a story is written one sentence at a time by people who do not see what has been written before. For the single, different instrumental parts were recorded one day at a time, with each set of performers not hearing the other sections. Andy Page, director of fundraising at Crisis, said: “The work Allen & Overy did on this project turned what we thought was going to be a complete nightmare into something very simple. There were a lot of legal complexities involved in getting the contracts negotiated for so many big-name stars, and we were in awe of what needed to be done, but the guys at Allen & Overy took it in their stride and really delivered for us.” As a thank you for all their hard work, Jim and Katie are invited to the concert in March, which is particularly fitting, as they both love live music. “I really like a lot of the acts taking part in this project and Katie and I are really looking forward to the concert,” says Jim, who has been with the firm for 11 years. “Pro bono work is an important aspect of life at A&O and it’s great to have the opportunity to work on something like this for such an important charity.” The lawyers who worked on this matter were: Ben Crawford, Jim Ford, Hannah Lacey, naomi Leach, Adam Leadercramer, Peter Mendham and Katie spooner. Crisis skylight Law Clinic In February 2008, we launched a pilot project with Crisis and LawWorks to provide a much-needed service to Crisisʼ homeless clients. Based at the Crisis Skylight centre on Commercial Street, associates from the London office will provide pro bono legal advice on areas such as housing and social welfare every Wednesday evening between 6.00 pm and 88 © Allen & Overy LLP 2008
2007-2008 I Values into Community Action 8.00 pm. The Crisis Skylight Law Clinic will run in addition to our long-standing pro bono clinic at Battersea Law Centre. The clinic will open its doors this summer following a series of in-depth training sessions. Volunteers will include: Andrew Battison, stephen Beattie, Rhiannon Blackmore, Jennifer Choi, Andy Cork, Jonathan Crompton, David Cummings, James Druce, elvan Hussein, Rosemary Ioannou, Carl Jenkins, emily Love, Leigh-Anne Males, ed Murray, Anne Powell, Alistair Robertson, shanda sibley, Zara spencer, erin stieber, Joanne strain, Luke streatfeild, Pam taak and Addie Ugbenne. tOYnBee HALL Toynbee Hall is a charity in Tower Hamlets that has been responding to the needs of the community on its doorstep since 1884 and helps over 6,000 local people every year. Its activities include workshops for under-16s who are at risk from exclusion from school, supporting vulnerable women and providing housing and social support for older people who find themselves isolated. Toynbee Hall is also home to the oldest free legal advice clinic in England and provides advice on a range of issues from employment to housing. Debt Advice Clinic with toynbee Hall and ABn Amro In January 2007, we launched a collaborative project with client, ABN Amro, and Toynbee Hall to help address the escalating problems of debt and financial exclusion in Tower Hamlets. Trained volunteers from the London office and from ABN Amro work with the Toynbee Hall Capitalise team every Tuesday evening to provide advice on debt resolution and financial literacy, helping clients to reduce repayments to their creditors and to save for emergencies. The aim is to help clients take control of their finances and give them the confidence to make informed financial choices in the future. On average, personal debt seen by debt counsellors in Tower Hamlets is around £16,000 and four-fifths of clients in debt are in receipt of benefits. One person receiving debt counselling from Toynbee Hall owes more than £90,000. Approximately 90 clients have been seen since the clinic launched in 2007. The project has gone from strength to strength this year. The following people have volunteered at Toynbee Hall in the last 12 months: tricia Beckford, Pamela Chambers, Cerry Darbon, Justine Deighan, Richard Griffiths, Lyn Hanson, sarah Juniper, sairah Khan, seema Kukreja, Jennifer Maskell, John Morris, Abdul Muith, Kevin O'sullivan, Julie Patel, John Pavey, Caroline Pellow, Paul Phelps, Charles Phillip, Paul Regan, neil spellings, Liz tippins, stella torgbor and Paula Wilson. The following people are currently receiving debt advice training to become advisors: Matthew Billing, nesa Ghadiri-Zare, natalie Gillam, Dylan Matthews, thomas Mosher, sandra nsia-Boachie, sheila Quansah-solomon, timothy senior and Victoria sharpe. eAst LOnDOn BUsIness ALLIAnCe (eLBA) The London officeʼs work in the East End includes the provision of pro bono legal advice for organisations such as the East London Business Alliance (ELBA). ELBA brings time, skills, influence and resources from the private sector to help build the capacity of local organisations and regeneration programmes in East London, primarily in Tower Hamlets, Hackney and the Thames Gateway. ELBA works in partnership with key stakeholders in each borough to identify needs and issues and to determine the most useful ways in which the private sector can help. The needs of small businesses in the area are many, and include accounting, finance, IT, strategy, management and legal advice, all of which are available on the doorstep of the City of London. Many London lawyers and support staff have advised on projects referred to the London office by ELBA. They include: Gergana Avramova, Wingmen Chung, spencer Collins, Angelene Galway, sarah Henchoz, Jonathan Kirsop, Adam Leadercramer, Mark Mansell, Anne Pages, Alan Paul, Colin Pearson, Mark Ridgway, Lucy twomey and Louise Williams. Greg Brown (partner, Banking) sits on the Tower Hamlets Board of ELBA. Legal seminar programme Building on the success of the one-off seminars for community clients undertaken in previous years by lawyers in our IP, Employment & Benefits and Tax teams, this year we set up a rolling seminar programme with ELBA to present a range of pro bono seminars to small charities and community organisations referred to us by ELBA. Working closely © Allen & Overy LLP 2008 89
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