Elaine Sherratt

Elaine is a solicitor at Kent Law Clinic, undertaking casework for individuals and community groups, and teaching and supervising law students. 

Elaine came to the Kent Law School after 27 years in law centre practice in London where she specialised in issues of housing law, employment law, young people’s rights and social welfare law. 

Elaine was a senior solicitor at Tower Hamlets and Brent Law Centres, and the managing solicitor at Streetwise Community Law Centre – a specialist law centre for young people in South London. Elaine was this project’s founding solicitor and helped the project to pioneer and then extend to other law centres innovative ways of working with homeless young people and care leavers. 

At the Kent Law Clinic Elaine’s casework and focus of legal research extends to two main areas:- 

• the law of town and village greens, commons, public rights of way and access to land, and some related issues of public and environmental law 
  
• employment and discrimination law.

Elaine is frequently asked to advise or represent community groups who seek to protect an important community resource or to establish enduring rights to use an open space or right of way. 

She also prioritises working with groups of workers seeking to enforce employment rights by using the law. She advocates in the employment tribunal and in public inquiries and has supervised students and supported clients to conduct some of these hearings.

Elaine comes from a community law centre background and feels that one very important role lawyers can play is in acting for and empowering groups of people who come together to fight for an important gain for the public or for the rights of a section of the workforce. She says “Our clients are often up against large employers, landowners, local government or other public bodies who make decisions which affect their quality of life or livelihood. 

Their opponents hire lawyers to defend every decision which they make. The Law Clinic can make a difference for people in Kent who band together, giving generously of their time and skills, in order to fight a community cause with their supporters. Our group clients bring the energy, vision and hard work for their goal, and we can put legal expertise at their disposal if legal advice and representation can help them further that goal”.

Elaine is one of the team of Solicitors who supervise the academic and practical work of students working in Kent Law Clinic.