Our Social Impact

Pro Bono in the time of COVID-19: Raising hopes and homes

Images: courtesy of Transform Housing

The global pandemic left many people displaced and families separated just when access to help was hardest to find. So, when our teams were asked to step in with their skills, they didn’t hesitate.

For Paul McCarthy, Senior Associate in the Immigration team, it started with a WhatsApp message. A paediatric nurse at a London hospital was caring for a terminally ill British child whose father’s visitor visa had been refused. He was abroad looking after his elderly parents when the baby’s condition deteriorated and COVID-19 hit, making travel impossible. Embarking on an Appeal that could take up to two years was clearly not an option. The child’s condition – Infantile Sandhoff disease – meant she was unlikely to survive past her second birthday. With the clock running, Paul gathered further documents with which to dispute the grounds for refusal. In the space of two weeks the father had been issued a visa and reunited with his family. “At the hospital we were told there was nothing further that could be done,” said the nurse who made the initial call. However, the success of the case meant that a father could be with his wife and child “during a hugely painful time.”

This is just one example of the Pro Bono assistance which our Immigration team, led by Partner Rose Carey, has been providing to vulnerable individuals in recent months. Other ongoing projects include advising an outstanding student from a disadvantaged background on how to regularise his immigration status so that he can take up a hard-won place in medical school, and helping an elderly woman to achieve residency status and maintain her access to vital social support after more than 20 years of living in the UK.

Taking Next Steps with Transform

When Transform Housing & Support got in touch early in 2021 with a request for Pro Bono help to make the purchase of five flats a reality, it was another step in a strong relationship. Charles Russell Speechlys had previously provided Pro Bono support to the Surrey-based charity – which provides housing and support to more than 1,500 socially excluded and vulnerable people every year – to find a new office premises. This time the project was to secure homes for rough sleepers as part of the Government’s Next Steps Accommodation Programme – giving people who had received emergency accommodation during the COVID-19 pandemic a permanent home. The flats needed to be purchased within a seven-month period at a time when the pandemic had created a shortage of suitable properties and solicitors were struggling with demand in advance of the end of the stamp duty holiday.

We managed the conveyancing process for the five flats, with Mark Rowden, Senior Associate in Private Property, completing three of the acquisitions and providing advice on the remaining two. Commenting on the work, Director of Asset Management & Capital Development at Transform, Michael O’Brien said: “Charles Russell Speechlys has been a key partner in supporting us to deliver five Next Steps homes and life-changing outcomes and opportunities for some of the most vulnerable people in our society.”

“Charles Russell Speechlys has been a key partner in supporting us to deliver five Next Steps homes and life-changing outcomes and opportunities for some of the most vulnerable people in our society”

–– Michael O’Brien, Director of Asset Management & Capital Development, Transform

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