On Monday, 12 February, a new NGO known as Here for Good was officially launched to provide free immigration services during and beyond the Brexit process. The launch event was hosted by Professor AC Grayling, a trustee of the charity.
Two of our partners, Wesley Gryk and Alison Hunter, worked with two partners at Bindmans LLP to produce the publication ACT NOW, a free and comprehensive guide commissioned by Here for Good. The guide sets out the practical steps individuals should take to secure their rights in the UK.
The organisation has been co-founded by Isabella Mosselmans, a trainee solicitor at Wesley Gryk, alongside Tahmid Chowdhury, who was one of the interested parties in the litigation concerning the legality of triggering the Brexit withdrawal process without parliamentary approval (the Article 50 litigation). It will give particular attention to the most in-need EEA citizens living outside of London, where there are high numbers of EEA migrants but a shocking lack of comprehensive pro bono immigration services.
Alison Hunter, Isabella Mosselmans and Tahmid Chowdhury
Wesley had this to say about the firm’s involvement in this new charity: “We are very proud of Bella and Tahmid’s initiative. We would like to see it as an extension of our own firm’s commitment to providing advice and assistance to as many European nationals as possible to protect their rights, regardless of their ability to access paid legal advice. To this end we are continuing to host a number of pro bono outreach sessions to advise such Europeans, the next of which we are conducting with another sister firm, Wilsons Solicitors, at 7pm, on 7th March 2018 at Islington Town Hall, with another we hope to follow at the Waterloo Action Centre at 1pm on Saturday, 19th May 2018.
As I am overly fond of pointing out, these initiatives are in part inspired by my own Polish grandparents, all four of whom immigrated to the US a little over a hundred years ago and were able to make a go of it thanks to a pool of kind employers, teachers and other generous individuals who saw their potential and that of their children as a benefit to society and not a threat.”
Isabella and Tahmid said “With extensive support from our lawyers, we have created a Guide that will help tangibly improve people’s lives. At best, EEA citizens and their families are facing uncertainty in the aftermath of the referendum – this guide combats that, and our proposed advisory service will further enable people to take action to protect their rights in the UK”.
