LawWorks Initial Electronic Advice
"Very helpful, and reassuring to know that this service is available"
Initial Electronic Advice applicant
Free online legal advice
Initial Electronic Advice (IEA) aims to assist not-for-profit organisations, charities and community groups by providing them with legal answers from qualified solicitors. The project operates on an online interface, which can be found at http://rake.io/lw. This site also includes a screen cast on how the system works.
Once a not-for-profit organisation has registered and been approved to use the system, they are able to submit legal questions directly to the interface. If a volunteer lawyer chooses to write a response, the answer is relayed automatically by e-mail to the relevant organisation.
Registration
If you would like to use the system please fill out our Registration Form.
Sole traders and micro-businesses
IEA is currently available to sole traders and micro-businesses on a pilot basis. If you are a sole trader or micro-business and have a brief legal query, please fill out the micro-business Registration Form.
Examples of suitable questions
Our lawyers can answer questions in a wide range of legal areas including property law, contract law, commercial agreements, dispute resolution, charity law, company law, corporate structure and many more. Some examples of suitable questions are:
- “What is Statutory Sick Pay?”
- “On what grounds can an organisation refuse a request for information under the Data Protection Act?”
- “How do I change a company’s constitution?”
- “How do I secure copyright on publications?”
How long will a response take?
Questions are usually answered within 10 working days – however, as we rely on volunteer advisors who carry out pro bono work on top of their existing case loads, we are unable to guarantee that any question will be answered. We will do our best to ensure that all appropriate questions are answered as quickly as possible.
If you have any further questions, please e-mail us at iea@lawworks.org.uk.