[WiLT] LawWorks

[WiL Admin]

LawWorks

LawWorks is an independent charity and is the working name of the Solicitor's
Pro Bono Group. The charity exists to encourage and support solicitors to carry
out pro bono work (for free), and runs several projects to encourage solicitors
to do this, and to provide free legal support to individuals, communities and
small voluntary organisations who are unable to afford or access legal advice.
You can see more information on the charity itself on their Website:
www.lawworks.org.uk

LawWorks for Community Groups - This project provides free legal advice to small
charities, not for profit, voluntary and community organisations and social
enterprises in England and Wales using volunteer lawyers.

They can help you with a wide variety of legal work including company law,
employment law, intellectual property law, property law, charity law; tax/VAT
law; insolvency and help in drafting contingency plans; insurance law; health
and safety law; general contractual / commercial matters etc.

You can apply to them using their online application form. Project staff review
the application and help you understand the scope of advice required. If the
application is approved, they then try and match you with a volunteer legal
advisor who provides the legal advice for free. Once accepted, you will be a
client of the firm but LawWorks staff are on hand to deal with any problems.

Initial Electronic Advice - a free, automatic web-based system which provides
brief legal information in response to straightforward legal queries. It is
designed to assist not for profit organisations and individuals who cannot
afford to pay for solicitors privately.

The system allows LawWorks to submit a short legal query and have this answered
anonymously by a lawyer via email. The process is that LawWorks receives an
email with a short legal question. The system then produces a list of volunteer
lawyers who work in the area of law concerned and sends the question to them one
by one by email. If the first lawyer in the list is unable to assist, they
'reject' the question and it is sent automatically to the next person on the
list, and so on. If the lawyer is able to help, they 'accept' the question and
answer it (also by email). Their answer email is sent to LawWorks who then
forward this to the agency / organisation who submitted the question.

You can register and submit questions via Website: http://www.lawworksiea.org.uk

The questions are answered by volunteer lawyers who work at LawWorks' member law
firms. In order to answer a question lawyers must be qualified as a solicitor,
or appropriately supervised if they are a trainee at a firm.

LawWorks, 10-13 Lovat Lane, London EC3R 8DN
Tel: 020 7929 5601
Email: enquiries at lawworks.org.uk
Website: http://lawworks.org.uk/?id=468