Creating a petition

Overview

You are to create a petition to illustrate what is needed to enable local authorities to support homeless people secure accommodation. You will want to illustrate that the law now means more people meet the priority need criteria - and the pressure point in terms of the housing crisis. You also need to ask yourself what could be the solution? Whilst this is a theoretical petition (i.e. it won't be going 'live') the goal of petitions, such as this, is to encourage members of the public to sign them. Securing 100,000 signatures means that the issue needs to be heard in parliament. Raising awareness and getting the issue debated by politicians can often result in a change in government policy.

Structure

A key skill for lawyers is the ability to read lots of information but put forward a simple argument. The most successful petitions are the ones that manage to capture complex issues simply.  This challenge is designed to test your skills at reading, digesting and summarising.  The recommended structure for a petition is therefore: 

  • Punchy headline (approx 10 words) to capture people's attention
  • Summary text (approx 50 words) to sum up in one paragraph how the support of the public can help tackle the issue in hand
  • Body text (approx 300 words) to build your case, outlining what the issue is, how it is impacting people/local authorities, and a potential solution
  • Call to action (approx 20 words) to sum up what you want to happen and why.

Content ideas

A good lawyer will always back up their argument with solid, proven facts. But it is also important not to lose sight of the people you are representing. The human interest element is critical, making it personal is what wins hearts and minds. Your piece could therefore include any of the following: 

  • Some headline statistics that help prove the point you are trying to make
  • A quote from a homeless person*
  • A short case study - a paragraph outlining someone's situation to illustrate the impact of current law on a real person
  • A quote from someone in authority that backs up your argument 
  • A photo

*In this instance, this could be a made up quote.