New legal partnership benefits learning disability

Wednesday 19 May 2010

Learning disability charity Mencap this week announced a new partnership with one of London's leading law firms, Reynolds Porter Chamberlain LLP (RPC), to promote the charity's work supporting people with a learning disability and their families and carers.

As part of its commitment to corporate social responsibility, RPC is building on its Charity of the Year programme. It will help Mencap, not only by raising funds for the learning disability charity but also by contributing pro bono legal advice. RPC was impressed by the charity's commitment to communication and skill development and the year's programme will see a number of initiatives based around these themes.

RPC's people will be given opportunities to volunteer, train and research alongside the charity. The two organisations will work together to raise awareness of learning disability and conduct research to determine the current scale of disability hate crime. The law firm hopes to raise £30,000 for the charity, which supports 1.5 million people with learning disability.

Mark Goldring, Mencap's chief executive, said: "We are delighted to have the support of RPC to help us continue our work and also investigate the true scale of hate crime against people with a learning disability. We also look forward to sharing our skills and experience across both organisations."

Jonathan Watmough, RPC's Managing Partner, said: "RPC welcomes the chance to work with Mencap. More than just a fundraising exercise, this genuine partnership will provide the charity with access to our legal expertise while RPC are keen to take full advantage of the extensive learning and development opportunities that this unique partnership will provide for our people."

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For more information or interview opportunities, please contact the Mencap media team on 020 7696 5414.

Notes to Editors

About Mencap

Mencap supports the 1.5 million people with a learning disability in the UK and their families and carers. Mencap fights to change laws and improve services and access to education, employment and leisure facilities, supporting thousands of people with a learning disability to live their lives the way they want. We are also one of the largest providers of services, information and advice for people with a learning disability across England, Northern Ireland and Wales. See http://www.mencap.org.uk/ for more information.

About Reynolds Porter Chamberlain

Reynolds Porter Chamberlain is a modern, progressive and commercially-oriented City law firm providing a full business law service to UK and international clients across a wide range of industry sectors including regulatory, corporate, tax, commercial litigation, construction, engineering and projects, outsourcing, IP and technology, employment and pensions, media and real estate. We ascribe our success to the level of service which we give to clients - delivering what they want, on time and in an easily accessible manner.

We have around 450 people, including over 60 partners, more than 250 lawyers and some of the sharpest minds in the UK legal market, many of whom are listed in the leading directories. We work from a single location at Tower Bridge House near the City of London. Our high visibility, open-plan environment facilitates team work and communication. See http://www.rpc.co.uk/ for more details.

About learning disability

A learning disability is caused by the way the brain develops before, during or shortly after birth. It is always lifelong and affects someone's intellectual and social development. It used to be called mental handicap but this term is outdated and offensive. Learning disability is NOT a mental illness. The term learning difficulty is often incorrectly used interchangeably with learning disability.