Post by Patrick Torsney on Jan 14, 2011 14:16:46 GMT
For those who found this post via Twitter especially - sorry and please forgive me. I imagine you were quite excited there for a minute - who could it be, Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jay-Z, "Madonna is pretty annoyed and says NO to legal aid cuts"?
The power of celebrity endorsement for any campaign is immeasurable. Also, given the purpose of J4A, I would have thought that there would be quite a few who would sign their name on the dotted line, even if nothing more. Although some may be prepared, and even want, to do more
I think the whole campaign against these cuts to legal aid funding and other local authority funding of advice services needs to be put out there into the public domain to a greater extent - we need to stop putting all the emphasis on trying to convince each other, and other professionals connected to the sector, and convince people on the street - the heaving mass of the people, the electorate
I'm already trying it with MyLegal, trying to give real examples of what will happen, for example, should the cuts to legal aid go through - trying to engage with the public, bash down some of the nonsense preconceptions and media spin that Djanogly, Clarke and their ilk propagate. It's a dirty fight and we are losing. We need to be more imaginative and change the rules in true ilegal fashion
Colin mentioned the same point earlier elsewhere on ilegal: "should be on the front page of the Daily Mirror...". Spot on I say. We are too bloody civilised in this sector. We're dusty and old fashioned and take it on the chin when someone says we are a fat cat lawyer or stinking rich adviser rather than knocking ten shades of [auto mod] out of them
Gok Wan lives near me and uses the dry cleaners around the corner - next time I see him I'll collar him and give him a Justice for All flyer and tell him what's going down. Patrick Stewart (that's Picard to the faithful) eats fish-and-chips in my local pub, he'll get the treatment too, ever so politely of course. I occasionally chat to the (excellent) historian Peter Ackroyd CBE outside my local pub (yes, same pub and no, I don't spend that much time there, honest), I'll fill him in on the detail too and see if he'll sign up
Mad you say? Maybe, but I'm one of the Mad Men and why the hell not
Here's a link for anyone interested in canvassing celebrity:
Post by nickd (Mylegal) on Jan 14, 2011 16:24:50 GMT
" I think the whole campaign against these cuts to legal aid funding and other local authority funding of advice services needs to be put out there into the public domain to a greater extent - we need to stop putting all the emphasis on trying to convince each other, and other professionals connected to the sector, and convince people on the street - the heaving mass of the people, the electorate"
I couldn't agree more Fearless Leader,
I think that whilst this campaign is gathering momentum, it's not got the profile it deserves. I believe we should still gather the stories from providers and clients to use in an evidence based dossier to feed into the consultation. I spoke with our volunteers at a bureau meeting this morning and was astounded to realise just how many of them seemed to be unaware of the Legal Reforms. It made me think if they don't know, who else knows? Who cares?
I've managed to secure an article in the New Statesman magazine, it's not a tabloid but it's a start, they have some good contributors and a lot of politicians read it. And yes, Mylegal has been given a plug, I'm not sure when it comes out, the assistant editor is going to let me know.
I'm going to have a chat with my manager and Trustee board about getting some television coverage, a glimpse of the work we do and the problems we see strikes me as topical and helps spread the message. Perhaps suggest a spot on the locals or maybe between us we could ask for some National coverage, a whole programme is what this is worth.
I have a relative who writes for a popular fashion magazine and it strikes me that she may be interested in writing a bit, amongst the glossy fashion & beauty pages, some of the readers will relate to stories of domestic violence and how difficult it will be to get help when the going gets tough, it's worth a shot and I'm up for trying.
Should we be writing to more prominent MP's, the ones at the top, perhaps drafting a good letter and asking the tabloids to print it and the response?
We need to bang our heads together and get big on this one, the Law Society are a useful alliance, but a celebrity would be great, who could we approach as our 'champion'?
We can be complacent and take this on the chin or we can stand up and be counted, I know which approach I'd rather be taking. Justice for all struck me as the start of the campaign, we need this to reach beyond the palace of Westminster, it needs to be on the front page on everyone's breakfast table, next to the Cornflakes and mug of tea.
Maybe what we need is pro Bono PR work...I will think further on this. Also celebrity clients... We had a footballer and actor using our court desk.. Perhaps they could help or lean on friends or colleagues to help. I shall get onto it...
