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The Justice First Fellowship at Asylum Aid offers an exceptional opportunity for aspiring social welfare lawyers to complete a training contract while working on some of the most important human rights, asylum, trafficking and public law cases in the UK. This fellowship is designed for candidates who are passionate about access to justice and want to develop their legal skills while supporting people facing some of the most complex challenges within the immigration and asylum system.

We are proud to have successfully taken on two fellows since becoming a Justice First Fellowship host organisation in 2022. One is now a solicitor employed within our team and the other is due to complete her training contract with us in March/April 2027. We take a proactive approach to learning from our experience as a host organisation with a view to refining our approach to training a fellow through progress reports, line management and supervision, and formal and informal feedback. Alongside our previous fellows we have therefore co-designed a handbook for future trainees and fellows, which will make the onboarding process even smoother and build on the experience we have gained through previous successful fellowships.  

We are a member of the Experts by Experience Employment Network which aims to increase representation for people with lived experience in the sector. We offer a guaranteed interview for refugees, stateless people and others with lived experience of forced migration. Recognising the difficultly many face in translating international experience due to the need to requalify in English law, we open training opportunities for refugee lawyers to transfer their legal qualifications to the UK. We have also an Equality Diversity and Inclusion Forum, working across the organisation to advance inclusivity, anti-racist practice, and accountability at all levels.  

As before, we would ringfence this opportunity for a Justice First Fellowship in Asylum Aid for a refugee or a member of the other communities we specialise in working with, including survivors of human rights violations such as trafficking, torture, and/or gender-based violence who are subject to immigration control, and stateless people.  We genuinely welcome and encourage applications from candidates from a range of backgrounds, especially people of colour, people with disabilities, people from low socio-economic backgrounds, refugees, stateless people and others with lived experience of forced migration or trauma and of the housing and welfare system, who are under-represented in our organisation and in the sector more widely.   

JOB DESCRIPTION 

The areas of law which a fellow would cover are immigration, asylum, trafficking and human rights, and public law. The fellow will work under supervision of an experienced Asylum Aid solicitor who will identify appropriate cases for the fellow to have conduct of, either solely or jointly with another member of our legal team. The cases are wide-ranging, including immigration and protection work such as asylum and trafficking cases; family reunion and human rights applications; applications under the statelessness procedure; and immigration applications for victims of domestic violence.  The fellow will also be able to work within our Public Law team on claims arising from our casework and support our strategic legal work and policy advocacy. We would support the fellow to develop their skills in carrying out country background research and case-related legal research, handling client files and records confidentially. 

We would implement a “rotating seat” style of training within the different teams at Asylum Aid to facilitate a rounded experience, which exposes the fellow to as many varieties of cases and legal issues as possible. For example, we have a dedicated Children and Young People’s team, Statelessness team, Public Law team, and Asylum and Protection team. When we onboard the fellow, we would discuss which seats particularly appeal to them, and co-design a plan for the fellowship that is personalised to that particular fellow. Throughout the fellowship, we would work with the fellow to discuss any particular tasks they would like to work on that they have not yet had the opportunity to, and if there is any way Asylum Aid could better support them. 

PERSON SPECIFICATION

There are certain professional accreditations that are necessary before a fellow can begin casework with us. Therefore, if not already registered with the Immigration Advice Authority (IAA) and/or accredited under the Law Society’s Immigration and Asylum Accreditation Scheme (IAAS), we will support a fellow to become registered and/or accredited, as relevant, as soon as possible in order to become an effective member of our legal team, including being able to give advice and charge for work under the Legal Aid contract.    

To become a fellow, you need to:

• Have a relevant qualification: Complete and pass the Legal Practice Course (LPC) by 14 March 2027, or have an undergraduate degree and complete and pass SQE Part 1 by 14 March 2027. For internationally qualified lawyers or those holding international qualifications, we recommend checking with the relevant UK national regulatory authority about what is needed to begin a training role to qualify as a lawyer in the UK before applying.
• Have the right to work in the UK. 
• Be willing and able to commit to working for two years as a fellow from April 2027.
• Demonstrate a commitment to social justice. This can include voluntary work or lived experience.

Please note that if you do not meet all of the above eligibility criteria, you will not be able to apply to the scheme.

INTERVIEW DATES 

Please write two potential interview dates during the interview period (January 26, 2027 to February 6, 2027) when you would interview candidates: 

Wednesday 27th January 2027 

Friday 5th February 2027  

HOW TO APPLY

To make your apply, head to: LEF | How to apply for a fellowship.

Benefits of working with Asylum Aid

We offer our staff training opportunities both internally and externally. We have a set budget per employee specifically dedicated to training and personal development, and we actively support staff with professional development opportunities.  We also host seminars and workshops for staff at our Trauma Centre. For example, two Garden Court Chambers counsel delivered a training to Asylum Aid staff on climate change and how it intersects with immigration work in the context of protection and human rights claims made with reference to the adverse effects of climate change. Additionally, as part of the Helen Bamber Foundation Group (HBF Group), Asylum Aid benefits from further specialist training opportunities and workshops, including e.g. on trauma-informed conduct in representing vulnerable clients in their immigration, asylum, human rights and trafficking cases. HBF Group Lunch and Learn sessions support knowledge-sharing and engagement with wider sector insights and contributions from either staff members or external speakers. Last year, we had an impactful knowledge and experience exchange within the HBF Group related to medico-legal reports (MLRs), namely types of MLRs and drafting effective letters of instructions to clinicians (GPs, psychologists, psychiatrists and therapists). In March 2026, we hosted a clinical psychologist who delivered a talk on the impact of hotel accommodation on asylum seekers' mental health and whose research idea was co-developed with clients from the Helen Bamber Foundation.