“Social reform is part of our community’s fabric”
Last week I was honoured to give a keynote speech about the power of pro-bono at Toynbee Hall in London’s East End.
Toynbee is where I started out, as a young lawyer volunteering at the Free Legal Advice Centre. My time there taught me more about the law than anything I learnt in a lecture theatre. It allowed me to understand the law not just as theory in books, but as a practical force for good. Not distant, or abstract – but real, and powerful.
I’d see it in action, shielding families from eviction, supporting people through debt, and helping them with immigration issues. It was here that I learnt how powerful justice can be when it is truly accessible. And now, I use this lesson as a guiding principle in my work as the Minister for Courts and Legal Services.
My connection to Toynbee Hall is more than just professional. It is also deeply personal.
Over a century ago, my ancestors were just some of the many immigrants who arrived in Whitechapel. A bustling, overcrowded melting pot, marked by poverty, but also promise. They had aspirations, dreams and a commitment to their community, and this country. And they were able – through everything that this country offered them – to make their lives here and flourish.
They were not the only ones who rolled up their sleeves and got stuck into the task of driving social change. When Samuel and Henrietta Barnett established Toynbee Hall they started a movement. In 19th Century London, life expectancy was short. Child mortality was high. And for many, including my family, living conditions were appalling.
Confronted with the dire poverty of Whitechapel, the Barnetts decided to do something about it. Toynbee Hall was born. A place where students and social reformers came to live and work alongside the people who they were trying to empower, and whose lives they were trying to improve.
The same people who set up Toynbee also created the Hampstead Garden Suburb. A settlement in North London built on principles of social reform. My family moved out of the East End first to Stamford Hill and eventually to the Suburb which is now part of the constituency which I now represent as its Member of Parliament.
Toynbee and its history is at the heart of my personal and professional life. But I am not the only one.
The Barnetts’ legacy is special for many people living in Finchley and Golders Green. Speak to any alumni of Henrietta Barnett school, or any patron of the Proms at St Jude’s which fundraises for Toynbee Hall. Social reform is writ large across our pocket of North London.
And I am so proud that our community continues to show the determination to build a future that honours the same vision of its founders. I endeavour to carry that same spirit throughout my work as your MP and as a Justice Minister.
You can see a clip of the speech I made about Toynbee and the power of pro-bono here.