#greatlegalbake – it’s about more than just great cake.

Law firms, legal advice centres and courts across the country have been baking themselves into a frenzy this week.

The London Legal Support Trust (LLST) runs a number of fundraising campaigns throughout the year, including the recent Just(ice) Fashion event  at the Royal Courts of Justice and the ever-popular London Legal Walk. The event that appeals most to the team at LawCareers.Net, though, is the Great Legal Bake. The chance to dust off our aprons, bring out the cake tins and eat ourselves into an all-day sugar high is an opportunity we simply cannot let pass.

With effective promotion on Facebook and Twitter from the industrious @llst_natalia (Natalia Rymaszewska - deputy chief executive at LLST), support for the #greatlegalbake has grown strongly. Some of these year’s 64 teams included representatives from Bircham Dyson Bell, Capsticks, K&L Gates LLP and Pennington Manches, as well as staff at the Law Commission and the Free Representation Unit.

The work of the London Legal Support Trust, alongside the other regional advice centres it is affiliated with, is of real importance. At a time when government funding cuts and policies continue to damage and curtail legal aid provision, access to free and reliable legal representation is unattainable for an increasingly large proportion of the population. The services offered by legal advice centres are therefore essential for many. But with increasing financial pressures and significant limits on resources, many advice centres are facing desperate times.

The funding offered by the LLST allows staff to continue their vital work and fight for clients in desperate circumstances. For example, Islington Law Centre receives monetary support from LLST; the week before the #greatlegalbake, it won its third bedroom tax appeal. A grandmother who needed a room to regularly look after her granddaughter had been told by the local council that this was an “extra bedroom” and that the consequential rise in rent would force the client out of her home. Islington Law Centre successfully argued that there was a familiar care need for the extra room and that the client should not be penalised by the tax. Law centres support many more cases such as this and their representation will continue to be in demand to do so while the Ministry of Justice fails to adequately support the legal aid system.

You can read more about the work of the LLST online, as well as the various fundraising campaigns held throughout the year.