LawWorks Clinics

The focus of this webpage is to describe the LawWorks Clinics project (‘the Project’ ) for the benefit of not for profit advice agencies which do not currently operate a pro bono clinic but are considering establishing one and would appreciate our help.

However, we are also pleased to be able to offer our support to other organisations which already run, or are in the process of developing a pro bono clinic so if this applies to you and you would like our support please read on…...

What the project does:
The LawWorks Clinic project provides a free consultancy service to help establish legal advice clinics, staffed by volunteer lawyers (or law students under the supervision of qualified staff/volunteer), which provide pro bono (i.e. free) legal advice and assistance to members of the public who cannot afford to pay for such help.

Advice agencies are often stretched to full capacity and establishing a pro bono clinic can help ease the workload and help address unmet need in local communities.

The role of the LawWorks Clinics team is as a free consultant to guide advice agencies and law firms through the developmental stages.

Who we help:
We have helped establish clinics in many different settings including:

• Law Centres
• Citizens Advice Bureaux (where volunteers are commonly referred to as Honorary Legal Advisers)
• Law schools
• Independent advice agencies, legal centres and at the offices of other charities
• Community centres
• Libraries
• Homeless shelters
• Places of worship

There are currently over 80 Clinics across the country which we support. To view the full list of LawWorks Clinics, please access our public search page.

How does a Clinic operate?
A clinic will typically operate outside normal office hours to make it easier for the lawyer volunteers to attend. A clinic will typically offer one-off advice and assistance to help clients reason through their problems with referrals/signposting to other sources of pro bono help where appropriate. Providing advice at an early stage often prevents a client's problems from multiplying and escalating, saving them stress and anxiety. For further information on the nature of the service available at a clinic, please click here

There are many different models of pro bono clinic to choose from; a clinic may be staffed solely by one law firm, may be a collaborative pro bono project between a number of law firms, or it may involve lawyers volunteering individually. It may run on a drop in basis or only by prior appointment. It may offer general diagnostic advice in most areas of law or offer specialist advice in particular areas.

Our role is to help advice agencies choose the most appropriate model- every Clinic is custom-made to fit the requirements of those involved with the main aim of addressing unmet legal need in the local community by helping fill gaps adding capacity.

Whilst the majority of clinics we help establish are face to face advice sessions, we have also helped develop models whereby volunteer lawyers provide advice via telephone by way of a callback, and through web, email and letter based clinics so if you have an idea for a pro bono project along these lines we will be happy to discuss it with you.

Whilst the majority of clinics also help individuals, there are also models of clinic which assist groups – commonly small community groups, social enterprises and charities and these will typically be run as a monthly legal clinic at the offices of an umbrella body for this type of organisation, for example a council for voluntary service.

The LawWorks Clinics team has helped many law firms and voluntary organisations develop bespoke Clinic models which aim to meet everyone's needs, especially the clients and set out below are several of the models available, all of which we would be happy to explore with you further…

What we can help with:
Providing a new legal service for agency users and the local community.

Recruiting volunteer lawyers.

Providing a free consultancy service to guide the Clinic startup as well as on tap consultancy on all other aspects of the pro bono clinic where required, which may include:

• assistance with troubleshooting issues at the Clinic;
• assistance with recruiting new Clinic volunteers - either advisers or administrative assistants;
• advice and support on expansion/relocation/development;
• the provision of best-practice documentation for the clinic ranging from a volunteer handbook to documents to be completed at the Clinic.
• Drafting best practice documentation for the clinic including volunteer handbooks and pro forma to ensure a high standard service is provided
• Helping design publicity materials for the clinic and increase awareness of the project amongst the wider pro bono community
• Providing a source of referral for clients with matters which may require more in-depth legal assistance and disputes which could be mediated, either through our Individual Casework and Mediation pages, or through our partner pro bono organisations such as the Bar Pro Bono Unit and Free Representation Unit [insert links where appropriate]
• Providing agency workers and volunteer lawyers with free online access to a wealth of legal resources through our partnership with LexisNexis
• The majority of clinics advise clients in social welfare law enquiry areas so the LawWorks Clinics team also provide free CPD accredited training, led by specialists, to supply a basic grounding in these areas and to ensure volunteers provide both confident and competent advice. These free training sessions are open to anyone at a LawWorks Member firm, any volunteer in a LawWorks affiliated advice clinic and also any staff member at an advice agency which hosts a clinic. For more information about our free training programme, please click visit our Training page.
• Providing legal preventative education training sessions for members of the public, based on issues selected by the community.
• Creating a webpage for the clinic

Each clinic we help establish or which we assist becomes affiliated with us as a LawWorks Member Clinic and in addition to being able to access the services above, each clinic will enjoy a number of additional benefits through being part of a wider network of organisations which deploy lawyers in a pro bono clinic setting, including:

• Invitations to our bi-annual Clinics Roundtable where advice centre coordinators and law firm pro bono coordinators meet to discuss common issues affecting the operation of pro bono advice clinics and share knowledge, experience and ideas.
• Clinics newsletter - in addition to emails from our project manager with new opportunities/resources for clinics, we also produce an e-newsletter with a round-up of the current developments, news, features and new opportunities across all LawWorks Member Clinics.

Contact:
If you would like to speak to us about establishing a new pro bono clinic or run an existing pro bono clinic and would like support, please contact:

Alasdair Stewart
Clinics Project Manager
020 7092 3953
alasdair.stewart@lawworks.org.uk