A London law centre has faced criticism for sending an email encouraging lawyers and staff to attend a march in support of Gaza that is taking place this weekend.
One trustee of a different law centre said that the email suggests that the centre is ‘clearly taking the side of a group of murderous, misogynistic, and corrupt terrorists’ and its action is ‘probably in breach of charity law’.
Jean Demars, the centre’s director, sent an email this week to over 3,000 lawyers and staff in the Law Centres Network, as well as external contacts including journalists (including the Gazette), headed: ‘National March for Palestine – Stop the War on Gaza’.
It said: ‘Like many, we are watching in horror the unfolding of war crimes committed in Gaza.’ The email told recipients: ‘The Public Interest Law Centre will be marching on Saturday, gathering at 11.30am near the tree facing Marble Arch … We would like to invite colleagues across the network to join us if you can.’
Demars’ email added: ‘We are also opening our office on Friday for a banner-making workshop between 3-6pm.’
The email also encouraged recipients to support an online crowdfunding campaign to fund a legal challenge being taken by the Global Legal Action Network to stop the sale of arms by the British government to Israel.
A recipient who replied to the email in a ‘personal capacity’, said in an email seen by the Gazette: ‘Whilst the deaths of civilians in this conflict and the potential for worse are indeed horrifying, I really wonder what the Public Law Centre thinks it is doing with this email.’
The trustee said: ‘It is clearly taking the side of a group of murderous, misogynistic, and corrupt terrorists by calling for time for them to regroup and rearm. It ignores the deaths of 1,400 civilians in Israel. It hands Suella Braverman and the right wing press all the fodder they could need, and it is probably in breach of charity law.’
Other recipients, including several lawyers, responded asking for their name to be removed from the email chain and the centre’s mailing list.
In a further email seen by the Gazette, Demars said that a technical error had resulted in his note being distributed more widely than he intended. ‘This email was intended to reach all staff at the law centres only but the list included external guest users in error. Please accept my sincere apologies.’
According to its website, the Public Interest Law Centre ‘exists to challenge systemic injustice through legal representation, strategic litigation, research and legal education’. It specialises in public law, actions against public authorities and public inquiries.
The centre is a charity that is in receipt of public funding, doing legal work as an agent of Camden Community Law Centre. Its registration on the Charity Commission’s website says that the centre’s charitable objectives are: ‘the relief of poverty, suffering and distress and the advancement of education among people living or working in the United Kingdom, by the provision of legal advice, assistance, representation and information which they could not otherwise afford through lack of means.’
Jonathan Turner, a barrister and chief executive of UK Lawyers for Israel, told the Gazette the law centre seemed to be acting ‘outside its charitable object – and conducting a political campaign, which seems to have little to do with [those objectives].’
The Gazette contacted the law centre and its director for comment.
Julie Bishop, director, Law Centres Network, said: ‘An email expressing personal views relating to the Israel-Gaza conflict was sent to a distribution list on 18 October by an employee of one of the 42 law centres that we, the Law Centres Network, represent. The opinion shared in this personal email does not represent the views of the Law Centres Network, and we apologise for any offence this email may have caused.’
