STAFF at a city law firm have joined Oxfam in the fight against poverty.

Solicitors at Blake Morgan have signed up to the charity's Lawyers Against Poverty scheme which support legal projects to give the world's poorest and most vulnerable people access to justice.

The firm will host a series of talks to establish the most important legal issues for poor people in the developing world and also contribute to a 'Justice Fund' which distributes money to good causes.

Blake Morgan solicitor Louise Lewis, who is heading up the Oxford branch of the scheme, said: "Every human being has the right to a standard of living that is adequate for health and well-being. That includes food, clothing, housing, medical care and necessary social services.

"These basic rights are enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and yet, 66 years after the declaration was signed, we still live in a world where billions of people live in poverty.

"People need the rule of law to help lift them out of poverty, but the deeply worrying statistic is that up to four billion people are being denied the legislation that will help them break free from the poverty cycle."