"Legal spark" offers community owned legal services
A young entrepreneur from Dennistoun in Glasgow has announced plans to open a new legal practice with stakeholder and community membership, with the aim of improving access to high quality legal services regardless of cost and geographical barriers.
Solicitor Daniel Donaldson will open ‘Legal Spark’ in Glasgow, together with his original base at Bright Red Triangle Craiglockhart, and hopes to be operational within the next 12 months.
“There has been no increase in the level of civil legal aid since 1994 and as a result, in 2015, many firms no longer undertake civil legal work as it is not viable to do so,” said Donaldson. “Likewise, certain areas of law such as intellectual property protection, equality and employment law are only available to those who can afford to pay privately, which can cost upwards of £250 per hour. Thus, there are lots of groups who are therefore unable to access legal advice or representation.
“Legal Spark will help address this issue, providing high quality legal services under a community owned scheme to ensure people who need access to justice but can’t afford to go private get the best service possible.”
The practice will primarily operate under a regular “law centre” model in order to build a client base and engage stakeholders and community groups. At the point it becomes established, community and other stakeholder groups will be invited to take a stake in the business.
Although the service won’t be free, through shared ownership these third parties will have the option to determine their own legal service needs, contribute to costs involved and receive a proportionate discounting of legal fees. Any profits generated from the practice will also be reinvested into causes which help promote access to justice such as offering a complimentary system of legal aid to individuals.
Donaldson is one winner of 38 from this year’s Young Innovators Challenge, an entrepreneurial competition which rewards students who have business ideas which have a positive impact on society. The Young Innovators challenge is run by the Scottish Institute for Enterprise through the Scottish Funding Council, on behalf of the Scottish Government and is part of the Scotland CAN DO approach.