Public Law Project

Who we are

PLP employs specialist lawyers who assist individuals experiencing personal disadvantage, or charities or organisations representing the interests of marginalised or disadvantaged groups. PLP also employs expert academics and researchers.

Historically PLP has undertaken three distinct strands of activity:

• Research and policy work
• Providing training and support to lawyers and advisers
• Legal casework including strategic litigation. Strategic litigation is where a legal case is taken on with the intention of changing the way a system works to help many people.

We undertake these activities in a coordinated way in order to achieve strategic impact. For instance, research undertaken by PLP into how the justice system is working, or not working, will influence what kind of skills we want to build in our casework team and what kind of training we want to provide lawyers and advisers. The diagram below shows how our various activities work together to form a theory of impact.

Our culture and values

Our vision is a fair and inclusive society secured by a just and confident state. To achieve this vision, we must ensure that: 

• The frontiers of public law are advanced and protected 

• Justice is accessible to all 

• No one is marginalised in society by those with power 

We are working to deliver this strategy through casework, research, policy advocacy, communications, and training. 

Our work will be underpinned by our values: striving for equity, sharing expertise, acting with courage and working, as ever, in collaboration. 

Equality, diversity and inclusion policy

As an employer, PLP will treat all employees and job applicants equally and fairly and will not unlawfully discriminate against them. This also applies to volunteers, interns and anyone undertaking work experience with PLP.  Our commitment to equal treatment extends to arrangements for recruitment and selection, terms and conditions of employment, access to training opportunities, access to promotion and transfers, grievance and disciplinary procedures, demotions, selection for redundancies, dress code, references, work allocation and any other employment related activities.  Specifically, PLP will endeavour to ensure that:  

1. Whenever practical, we will recruit and maintain a workforce which broadly reflects the diversity of the community in which we operate and serve. We will ensure that the style and content of our job adverts and recruitment materials convey this commitment and always includes the statement that "The Public Law Project is an equal opportunity employer". 

2. Subject to cost, we will ensure that job opportunities are advertised widely and to diverse audiences. Where appropriate, PLP will take positive action measures to attract applications from all sections of society and especially from those groups which are under-represented in our workforce. 

3. We treat all job applicants equally and fairly and do not unlawfully discriminate against them. We do this by ensuring that we operate an open and fair recruitment process and making decisions using selection criteria which do not discriminate. 

4. We will take every possible step to ensure that employees and volunteers are treated fairly, with the aim of creating a culture that respects and values each other’s differences, that is free of discrimination and promotes dignity, equality and diversity, and that encourages individuals to develop and maximise their true potential. 

5. We recognise our continuing responsibility to develop the potential of all employees, removing any barriers, bias or discrimination that prevents progression or full contribution to the organisation’s performance. We will ensure that selection for promotion, training or other benefit is free from discrimination of any kind and is based on the employee’s experience and abilities and the needs of the job. 

6. We will make clear to all employees, volunteers and trustees that anyone who works for PLP in any capacity is entitled to be treated with dignity and respect, and that unlawful discrimination, intimidation, harassment and victimisation are disciplinary offences which will not be tolerated by the organisation and may lead to disciplinary action.  We will provide clear and accessible procedures allowing allegations of such conduct to be promptly and sensitively investigated.  

7. We will provide flexibility to employees in relation to work requirements that may significantly impact on their personal needs and responsibilities, and we will seek, as far as possible, to foster a culture that ensures an appropriate work – life balance.  We also aim to be aware of days of cultural or religious significance that employees may wish to observe in an appropriate manner. 

Privacy notice 

When you apply for a job with PLP we will need to collect information about you including your employment history and contact details so that we can assess your suitability for the role and inform you about the progress of your application. 

Your records will be kept securely whilst we consider your application. If your application is unsuccessful, we will keep your data until 12 months after the decision was made. If successful, your recruitment information will be kept for 6 years after your last day working with us. 

If you opt to provide equal opportunity data to PLP this will be anonymised and retained only as long as is necessary to record the recruitment decision against the anonymised data and no longer than twelve months. 

We do not share recruitment information with third parties.