Shadow minister opens new law service

Lord Bach at Rochdale Legal Enterprise

A pioneering immigration and employment law advice service is now available in the heart of Rochdale aimed at people on low and middle incomes who are not entitled to legal aid. The new Rochdale Legal Enterprise (RLE) on Drake Street was opened yesterday (Thursday 19 April) by Lord Bach, the House of Lords Shadow Spokesperson for Justice.

Lord Bach said:” I am delighted to open this new service. It has been set up by Rochdale Law Centre in response to the government’s appalling cuts to legal aid for social welfare law. While it clearly cannot replace legal aid, it is good to see the Law Centre finding new ways to carry on providing a service to the local community. I wish the new service every success.”

Marie Giblin, RLE’s solicitor added: “The government intends to take away legal aid for employment, immigration and nationality advice. People will still need help. We will be offering expert legal advice at a fair price to stop people falling through the net.

“Any excess income we make will be donated to our sister organisation, Rochdale Law Centre, to help them carry on providing legal advice in these and other areas of law for free. Yet again Rochdale is leading the way with a new business model where any profits are donated to the Law Centre so more people can be helped. If it works well here, it can be used in other parts of the country too.”