The Legal Education Foundation (TLEF) published its fifth annual review last Friday (18 January 2019). In 2018, it made grants worth £5.7m to 91 organisations in the legal and advice sector.

TLEF’s most high-profile grant programme, the Justice First Fellowship scheme, funds training contracts for social welfare lawyers in the not-for-profit sector and private practice. According to the report, a further 15 fellowships were created last year, bringing the total number of fellows to 68.

In his introduction to the report, TLEF chief executive Matthew Smerdon said many of the organisations it funds are facing difficulties, remarking that ‘[c]ivil society organisations need to be supported to engage and to share expertise and to make heard the voices of the communities they represent’ (page 5).

LAG is among the organisations that have benefited from TLEF grants. Over the past three years, it has supported LAG’s digital first strategy with grants totalling £170,000. ‘The cash from TLEF has enabled LAG to revamp our website and to offer digital versions of our publications. Without it, we would have struggled to find the necessary investment to modernise our publishing,’ said LAG director, Steve Hynes.