The Legal Education Foundation

Charity Number: 271297

Annual Expenditure: £16.2M
Throughout England And Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland

Contact Info

Website: https://lef.org.uk

Phone: 020 3005 5697

Email: secretary@thelef.org

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Quick Stats

  • Annual Giving: £6-10 million (£50m+ committed 2025-2030)
  • Success Rate: Not publicly available
  • Decision Time: Up to 5 months (4 weeks for first stage)
  • Grant Range: £20,000 - £500,000+ (average £164,000)
  • Geographic Focus: UK-wide (England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland)

Contact Details

Website: https://lef.org.uk

Email: secretary@thelef.org

Phone: 020 3005 5697

Address: 15 Alfred Place, London WC1E 7EB

Overview

The Legal Education Foundation (LEF) was established in 2013 with a £200 million endowment and appointed Matthew Smerdon as its first CEO. LEF is an independent grant-making foundation supporting communities across the UK to use the law to create a more just and equal society. Between 2013 and 2019, the foundation granted over £22 million to more than 170 organisations supporting nearly 400 different projects. LEF has invested over £10.6 million into the Justice First Fellowship programme, with 98% of graduated fellows in paid employment and 91% working as lawyers using law for public benefit. For their new 2025-2030 strategy, the board has committed over £50 million, a £15 million increase on their previous strategy, to strengthen the power of communities to use and shape the law to achieve justice and equity.

Funding Priorities

Grant Programs

Currently Closed for Applications: LEF is not accepting new grant applications until summer 2025, when they will launch new programmes under their 2025-30 strategy.

Previous Programmes (2020-2025):

  • Stronger Sector: £20,000 - £500,000+ for organisations using law and legal tools to promote social justice (flexible funding for capacity building, core costs, strategic work)
  • Fairer Systems: £20,000 - £500,000+ for work influencing how laws are made and implemented (supporting transparency, accountability, and human rights protection)

Active Programme:

  • Justice First Fellowship: Fully funded two-year trainee solicitor positions for social welfare legal organisations (approximately £80,000 per fellowship over two years)

Priority Areas

Geographic and Thematic Focus:

  • Human rights and equalities across the UK
  • Disability justice
  • Employment rights
  • Housing rights
  • Racial justice
  • Violence against women and girls
  • LGBTQ+ and women's rights
  • Underfunded issues

Strategic Approach:

  • Work with regional, national, or UK-wide impact
  • Organizations using law to address systemic injustice
  • Strategic litigation, judicial review, influencing legislation
  • Legal inquiries and policy work
  • Community-led and lived experience-led approaches
  • Collaborative approaches in complex landscapes

What They Don't Fund

  • Organizations outside the UK
  • Individual projects (must be registered charities/organisations)
  • Commercial law
  • Pro bono legal advice exclusively
  • Immigration-only work (funded through Justice Together initiative)
  • Projects exclusively focused on criminal law
  • Work already completed

Governance and Leadership

Chair: Paddy Sloan

Vice Chair: Alison Pickup

Leadership Team:

  • Matthew Smerdon, Chief Executive (appointed 2013, formerly Deputy Director at Baring Foundation)
  • Jake Lee, Director of Strategy and General Counsel
  • Rachael Takens-Milne, Director of Grants and Learning
  • Adam Pokun, Director of Operations
  • Ali McGinley, Head of Grants
  • Paresh Dodhia, Head of Finance

Notable Trustees:

  • Chrisann Jarrett MBE (founder of We Belong)
  • Fiona Mactaggart (former MP and human rights advocate)
  • James Wolffe KC (former Lord Advocate of Scotland)
  • Barbora Bukovská
  • Tamsin Evans

CEO Matthew Smerdon on their approach: “We believe law should be readily available at the times and in the places where people need it” and "Our priority was to take immediate steps to show the social justice organisations we work with that we've got their backs."

Application Process & Timeline

How to Apply

Current Status: Applications closed until summer 2025 for new grant programmes under 2025-30 strategy.

Previous Two-Stage Process:

  1. First Stage: Initial application submitted by deadline
  2. Second Stage: Selected applicants invited to submit full application
  3. Large Grants: Applications over £350,000 require full Board consideration

Application Rounds: Previously operated Spring and Autumn rounds with fixed deadlines.

Justice First Fellowship: Rolling recruitment in autumn, fellows start the following April.

Decision Timeline

  • First Stage Notification: 4 weeks from closing date
  • Full Process: Up to 5 months from deadline to final decision
  • Large Grants (>£350,000): Board decisions in late June (Spring) or late December (Autumn)

Success Rates

Success rates are not publicly disclosed. Between 2020-2025, LEF awarded 253 grants totaling £37.6 million, with most recent June 2024 round awarding 12 grants.

Reapplication Policy

Information about reapplication policies not explicitly stated. Given the foundation's supportive approach and emphasis on relationships with grantees, unsuccessful applicants are likely able to reapply in subsequent rounds, though this should be confirmed with LEF staff.

Application Success Factors

Priority Factors

LEF prioritizes applications demonstrating:

  1. Lived experience at the heart of strategy and leadership - Organizations must thoughtfully incorporate lived experience meaningfully into their work
  2. Accountability to communities - Minimum requirement: regular consultation with communities and sharing power
  3. Connections between everyday injustice and advocating for change - Local, regional, or national impact
  4. Commitment to learning - Reflective approach to improving practice
  5. Supportive, inclusive environments - For staff and volunteers

Organizational Characteristics

  • Size: Primarily small and medium-sized organisations (usually under £2m annual income)
  • Governance: Minimum three trustees/directors
  • Banking: Access to bank account with two signatories
  • Values: Organizations promoting solidarity between groups, not advancing rights at expense of others

Recent Grant Recipients

Stronger Sector:

  • ACORN (Manchester and Leeds community organising)
  • IPSEA (SEND education provision)
  • RCJ Advice (free legal advice for court cases, 3-year core funding)
  • Project Seventeen (migrant families with no recourse to public funds)
  • Revoke CIC (young refugees and asylum seekers)
  • We Stand (family law support for non-abusing parents)
  • Civic Power Fund (social justice funder mapping)

Fairer Systems:

  • Suzy Lamplugh Trust (stalking and harassment laws)
  • Centre for Women's Justice (criminal justice failings against women)
  • Hansard Society (legislative power delegation)
  • Committee for the Administration of Justice (Northern Ireland human rights)
  • Centre for Military Justice (Armed Forces legal services)

Standing Out

  • Demonstrate how lived experience informs organizational strategy and leadership
  • Show genuine community accountability beyond consultation
  • Connect everyday legal issues to systemic change
  • Emphasize collaborative approaches and solidarity-building
  • Evidence reflective learning and improvement
  • Flexible funding means you can request support for core costs, capacity building, or strategic projects
  • Multi-year funding available (up to 3 years)

Key Takeaways for Grant Writers

  1. Wait Until Summer 2025: No applications accepted until new programmes launch under 2025-30 strategy. Use this time to strengthen lived experience integration and community accountability.
  1. Lived Experience is Central: This isn't optional. LEF expects to see lived experience meaningfully incorporated at strategic and leadership levels, not just in service delivery.
  1. Community Accountability Matters: Regular consultation is the minimum. Demonstrate how you share power with communities you serve.
  1. Think Systemic, Not Just Service: LEF funds organizations using law to challenge root causes of injustice, not just providing legal advice. Connect individual cases to broader change.
  1. Small-Medium Organizations Prioritized: If under £2m annual income, you're in LEF's sweet spot. They believe this is where funding is most needed.
  1. Flexible Funding Available: Previous rounds funded core costs, capacity building, and multi-year projects (up to 3 years). Expect similar flexibility in new programmes.
  1. Solidarity Over Division: LEF explicitly avoids funding work that advances one group at another's expense. Emphasize coalition-building and solidarity between communities facing injustice.
  1. Learning Culture Required: Show reflective practice, willingness to adapt, and commitment to continuous improvement.
  1. Be Patient: Five-month decision process requires planning. Applications over £350,000 face additional Board approval requirements.
  1. Consider Justice First Fellowship: If you're a social welfare legal organisation, the Fellowship provides fully-funded trainee solicitors with 98% employment success rate post-qualification.

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References