Today (31 March 2023), Wiltshire Law Centre bids a fond farewell to senior solicitor Richard Hazell, one of its founder members. He worked at Law Centres for 50 years, 41 of which were at Wiltshire.

Richard became aware of Law Centres while he was at Kent University between 1971 and 1974, and spent a month in the summer of 1973 at North Kensington under the supervision of the legendary Peter Kandler. He also volunteered at Islington and Balham Law Centres, and then at the family and welfare unit of Brixton Law Centre from September 1977 to December 1978.

After qualifying as a solicitor, Richard worked at Cambridge House Law Centre from January 1979 to August 1981. He then got the job as senior solicitor at the new Thamesdown (later Wiltshire) Law Centre, where he started on 2 September 1981. In its early years, the Law Centre concentrated on casework in welfare benefits, housing and employment law. Much emphasis was placed on community work by starting and supporting the new Advice Points (which provide free, confidential and independent advice on welfare benefits, housing, council tax and related areas), and by working with the Thamesdown Tenants Federation and with local community groups on planning issues. Richard’s main areas of work were housing law and the legal structure of voluntary sector organisations.

In 1989, Richard arranged a job exchange and spent six months at the Wellington South Community Law Centre in New Zealand. In 1995, he drafted the office manual, which enabled the Law Centre to obtain a legal aid franchise, as a result of which it was able to obtain legal aid contracts in 2000 in the new areas of discrimination and immigration law, as well as welfare benefits, housing and employment, and later debt and mental health.

In March 2020, the Law Centre office closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For four months, Richard ran the (slimmed-down) Law Centre from the front room of his own home, answering all calls and keeping contact with all existing clients, until the staff could return.

During his 41 years at Wiltshire, Richard took on and trained up five trainee solicitors who have gone on to use their legal skills elsewhere. He has saved (literally) thousands of people from losing their homes, often by quick-witted legal advice on the duty desk at local courts in Wiltshire and Hampshire. He has fought against homeless decisions to secure those on the streets a safe home of their own, and has taken on the Department for Work and Pensions when it has made unjust decisions that impoverished those already struggling. Richard has the greatest empathy and shows great strength when dealing with tragic and heart-breaking cases.

The legal aid cuts in 2013 caused the Law Centre great difficulty by restricting our areas of work to housing and debt, but Richard continued to give his heart and soul to ensure that we can continue to provide our legal services to alleviate poverty and disadvantage. He is a true champion for social justice. Richard has earned the respect and admiration of all who have had the honour of working with him, and his tireless efforts have left an indelible mark on our community – notably, he won the Gloucester & Wiltshire Law Society President’s Outstanding Achievement Award in 2017 and his work was recognised at the Pride of Swindon Awards in 2018.

We wish Richard well in his retirement.