Hogan Lovells has launched a new technology initiative with LawFairy to help pro bono charities determine whether undocumented children in the UK can apply to become British nationals by using an innovative decision-support system to streamline immigration advice and triage.
The collaboration between Hogan Lovells, LawFairy and Central England Law Centre (CELC), has been established to support the Kids In Need of Defence (KIND) network in the UK. It will help advisers by analysing potential eligibility for UK nationality and advising on subsequent steps in relevant cases.
The project targets a specific area of immigration law where legal aid is often unavailable and private practice advice can be unaffordable, with around 215,000 undocumented children in the UK, many of whom encounter significant obstacles to accessing their rights.
The platform works by asking applicants a structured series of questions in plain English, identifying possible application routes and flagging cases where specialist legal advice may be required. It then produces a report to triage cases and determine appropriate next steps.
John Glanville, project coordinator for CELC, said the system could help the legal advice sector with recruitment shortfalls.
“An intake handling and decision-support system like LawFairy will expand the sector’s ability to handle many more requests for advice, despite a continuing collapse in the number of qualified advisors in this area since 2010,” he said.
He added that working with both partners from the outset had enabled CELC to develop LawFairy’s legal technology platform to increase access to justice for people in need, “bringing some of the benefits that the commercial legal world has already seen through automation into a sector which otherwise struggles to find private investment”.
Raj Panasar, a former partner at Hogan Lovells and the founder of LawFairy, said the collaboration exemplified LawFairy’s commitment to supporting vulnerable communities.
“By making legal processes more accessible, efficient and easier to understand, we want to help ensure that every undocumented child has a fair chance to secure their rights and a brighter future,” he said.
Eduardo Ustaran, a partner at Hogan Lovells, assisted with compliance advice on data protection, saying such support was “key to the credibility of LawFairy and a very visible way of reassuring users of the service”.
Yasmin Waljee OBE, the firm’s pro bono lead, said the project was “an excellent demonstration of how collaboration for impact works”, while a spokesperson for KIND said the system could help the charity improve both efficiency and scalability, enabling them “to quickly and confidently match the people who turn to us for help to receive appropriate legal advice”.
LawFairy recently received authorisation from the Solicitors Regulation Authority to operate as a law firm, with the firm calling itself the first technology-only firm in England and Wales built around a fully deterministic legal model.
Hogan Lovells announced an impressive set of financial results ahead of its proposed merger with Cadwalader later this year, while also announcing its UK offices would continue to support The Rivers Trust, a charity which safeguards the UK’s fresh water rivers, as a responsible business charity partner since 2024.
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