Crowd funding website looks to fund public interest litigation
A new crowd funding platform – CrowdJustice – has been set up with the aim of funding public interest litigation, including judicial reviews against central and local government.
The organisation’s website says it comprises a small dedicated team of lawyers and volunteers based in London.
“We are a totally independent platform with no political or legal affiliations,” it adds.
“We founded CrowdJustice because we think that accessing the courts shouldn’t just be for those who can afford it. We believe that there is enormous power in the community that can be harnessed to achieve legal change.”
The founder of CrowdJustice, Julia Salasky, is a non-practising solicitor who was previously an associate at City law firm Linklaters.
She has indicated that judicial reviews would be “a core type of case for the site”.
After Linklaters, Ms Salasky worked as a lawyer for the United Nations in Vienna and the Hague; she has also worked at a legal aid clinic in London as well as for an environmental law NGO.
The site’s first case is being brought by Colombian trade unionist Gilberto Torres in the High Court against multinational oil companies.
