We provide free legal advice and representation to marginalised communities.

PILC is a law centre providing free legal advice and representation to marginalised communities. We use public law and strategic litigation to challenge unlawful state practice and fight systemic injustice alongside the communities and movements most affected by it.

We work with grassroots organisations and frontline partners across housing, land and racial justice; Gypsy, Roma and Traveller rights and we support social justice activists holding the state to account. Our approach is rooted in movement lawyering: using legal expertise not just to win individual cases, but to build power with the people and communities we represent.

Cuts to Legal Aid mean we subsidise the majority of the cases we take on. Without your support, much of this work simply does not happen.

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Why it matters right now

The last few years have seen sustained attacks on the rights of the communities we represent. There is deepening racist anti-migrant scaremongering in the media. The housing emergency and public cuts are damaging millions of people's quality of life. Creeping authoritarianism suffocates the rights and freedoms of ordinary people.

At the same time, public funding for legal representation has been decimated. Legal aid spending has been cut by £728m in real terms between 2012-13 and 2022-23, down from £2.5bn to £1.8bn, a 28% reduction in a decade. During the same period, the number of offices offering civil legal aid fell by 40%. For most of the vital cases we take on, the legal aid we receive does not cover the work we do. 

The communities we represent have almost no other route to challenge the state. New legislation is creating an even more hostile environment whilst deregulation exacerbates the housing emergency.

Legal intervention is vital but our ability to meet this need depends on your support.

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Trusts and foundations

Trusts and foundations are central to PILC's work. We work with funders whose values align with ours, those who understand the importance of independent legal challenge, movement lawyering, and long-term investment in the communities we work with.

If you represent a trust or foundation and want to find out more about our work, we would welcome a conversation. The work PILC does simply would not happen without the support of our funders below. Thank you.

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Get in touch

If you want to find out more about supporting PILC, contact us at office@pilc.org.uk or call 0203 559 6342.

Public Interest Law Centre 244-254 Cambridge Heath Road London E2 9DA

PILC is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation in England & Wales — no. 1192355

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