Strategic Social Justice Internship

It was 30 degrees outside, and I walked into the Central England Law Centre excited to start the internship. I had met both Christopher and Rob (my supervisors) numerous times before during the Immigration and Asylum clinic earlier in the year, so that reduced my nerves. I was soon welcomed with a smile and introduced to the law centre in its entirety. I dropped my bag off in the immigration and asylum office room upstairs, before meeting many friendly faces from all the different teams and being shown where the kitchen was.

Every day was different working in the Immigration and Asylum team, and I sometimes got to see new faces when colleagues from the Birmingham office came in or while attending cluster meetings. All the people I worked with were extremely friendly, and the atmosphere in the office was welcoming and supportive. Colleagues were always willing to answer questions, share templates, or give feedback on drafts. One of my favourite activities was participating in team meetings, as these gave me a glimpse into the bigger picture: how organisations balance individual casework with more strategic litigation. During the internship, I worked on a wide variety of cases, and while sometimes harrowing, I got to learn the ins and outs of clients' individual stories, and their wins became my wins.

The biggest skill I came away with was drafting - this included letters either to the client about their case, or cover letters for applications. I can now confidently put together a fee waiver application or an ECF grounds letter, knowing which evidence to include, how to reference the guidance, and how to structure arguments. At first, I leaned heavily on templates and past examples from colleagues, but over time I learned how to adapt them or even build my own arguments from scratch when the previous examples didn't fit. I also drafted an Asylum Further Submissions letter for a fresh asylum claim, an FLR(HRO) letter for leave to remain on human rights grounds, and a Pre-Action Protocol letter to challenge the decision to grant our client No Recourse to Public Funds. The interesting thing about drafting is that you come to understand that each letter is an attempt to translate someone’s messy, complicated, very human reality into the language the Home Office will recognise and the rigid immigration rules. It is a mix of law and storytelling. On the one hand, you’re relying on human rights principles and past case law; on the other, you’re trying to paint a picture of real lives, emotions, and relationships.

Of course, not everything was smooth sailing. Some of the research I was asked to do felt impossible, like trying to find out whether an arrest warrant in a particular country would show up in a centralised database at the airport. Hours of searching later, I had nothing definitive. At times, I also felt frustrated, such as when a cover letter was urgently needed despite our information from the client being incomplete. But looking back, even those frustrations were valuable insights into the reality of legal aid practice, where you often have time and resource constraints. I became knowledgeable on timeframes and procedures that you don't learn in the classroom: the 10-day window after a fee waiver is accepted to submit an FLR(FP) application, the 14 days to appeal an asylum refusal, and how to use the Unity casework database.

If you decide to volunteer in the Immigration and Asylum clinic this year (you should!), one of the things you might see is the application guides I created to help you fill in the CW1 legal aid financial eligibility form and CIV ECF1 Exceptional Case Funding application. These include key information such as which questions to fill out, what to put in certain boxes and details like the law centre's address and phone number. This should help you to fill in these forms accurately and efficiently. Anyone who does this internship will similarly leave a piece of themselves behind, whether that's in casework, an impression on colleagues or clients, or a future guide for students!

For me, the internship has cemented my interest in immigration and asylum law. I’ve started applying for paralegal roles, and while the rejections are frustrating, I now have a breadth of experience to talk about in applications and interviews. I feel confident about my ability and passion for legal aid work and have a greater understanding of the rewards and challenges that come with it. Overall, I have had an invaluable experience with a wonderful team.