Skip to main content
News

Press release: The Good Law Project sets up a Trust for victims of the Grenfell Disaster

16th June 2017
Photos taken at the #MayMustGo protest at Downing Street on Saturday 17th June 2017.

The Good Law Project, a non-profit organisation that uses strategic litigation to deliver a progressive society has set up a Trust in the wake of the Grenfell disaster in West London.

The purpose of the Trust is to ensure that cash donations are distributed, in a speedy fashion, to the right people and don’t end up in the wrong hands. The trust is designed, in particular, for the use of those whose fundraising efforts have raised very substantial sums of money. The process of distributing monies raised to victims in a timely and efficient manner can – especially for individuals who have crowdfunded monies – be difficult to manage. Crowd funding sites themselves, despite all the protocols that are in place, also face reputational risks that money will be misused.

In an effort to support the fundraisers, the sites and the victims, The Good Law Project has established a central Trust that can be used to accumulate all donations from various sites and organisations to ensure that the monies do reach the right hands.  James Kessler QC, of Old Square Tax Chambers, has drafted the Trust Deed. The initial trustees will be PJ Kirby QC (Hardwick Chambers) and Director of The Good Law Project, Jolyon Maugham QC (Devereux Chambers). In time, they will be replaced or supplemented by local community leaders. All have worked on a pro-bono basis.

Director, Jolyon Maugham QC, said in a statement:

“However angry we feel about the apparent inaction before the Grenfell Tower disaster, it is hard not to feel humbled by the response from various communities since.  Those of us who witnessed the streets around the Tower in the aftermath are truly humbled by the generous donations of clothes, food and goods. Cash donations continue to flood in through a number of crowd-funding sites.”

He continues:

“Experience tells us that getting these funds in to the right hands is difficult and time consuming. For this reason, we have set up the Trust.  We are looking to identify community leaders to become Trustees and ensure the appropriate distribution of the monies raised.  We also ask any individual fundraising efforts to contact us so that we can pool our resources together and ensure that no monies end up in the wrong hands.  We are currently in talks with one of the major crowdfunding site and hope that more will join us.”