Salasky, 36, graduated in 2007 to qualify as a commercial lawyer at Linklaters and at that time she probably had no idea how one day she is going to be a changemaker she is today. Salasky launched CrowdJustice in 2015, a crowdfunding platform which helps people fundraise legal fees and hold power to account.
It was Salasky and her online platform CrowdJustice that helped change the face of Brexit. The campaign run by the name “Article 50 Challenge by Liz Webster” did the magic. It was then, Supreme Court decided in 2017 that Article 50 should be triggered by parliament rather than royal prerogative i.e MPs had to agree to start the process.
This is what Professor A. C. Grayling, Master had to say on the subject.
“Article 50 Challenge by Liz Webster“ Brexit is built on sand. When we look past the rhetoric and hype about the Will of the People and examine the facts and events that led to Brexit, we see that the Article 50 process was not followed properly and that our Article 50 notification is predicated on a decision that has no basis in law. Despite what many people were led to believe, Parliament has never delegated the withdrawal decision to the people and has never made the withdrawal decision itself. With no constitutionally valid decision, the process is invalid and illegal.”
Salasky says it was while working on a major project focusing on online dispute resolution that gave her insight into how difficult it can be for people to speak to lawyers and understand their legal rights. As per the figures released by the Legal Services Board in 2015 showed that 7 in 10 people with legal issues didn’t bother to pursue them.
“There were a lot of naysayers at the beginning. Law as an industry is so steeped in tradition and when you’re trying something new, that can be a huge impediment. There were some articles published around our launch saying ‘this is a very noble idea, but it will never work’.”
It has been just four years and over £10m has been raised, by 200,000 backers, for more than 500 legal cases on CrowdJustice. Isn’t that a staggering number?
More power to such innovative ways to solve problems. More power to Julia Salasky and other changemakers.
The story first published on The Big Issue.
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