Liverpool John Moores University’s Legal Advice Centre (“LAC”) was established in April 2014 and is based in the School of Law, Brownlow Hill. It is now one of the largest law clinics in Europe, providing £0.6M worth of free legal advice and representation during 2021-22.
The LAC’s clinics advise on family, employment, civil, criminal, housing, environmental, music and wills & administration advice. It also runs drop in clinics in family and civil law. We seek to meet unmet legal need in the local community for the growing number of people who do not qualify for Legal Aid but cannot afford to pay for advice and/or representation.
Volunteers should be able to offer a minimum of 5 hours per academic year, to supervise students running fact-finding interviews and providing written advice thereafter, and/or to provide verbal advice to clients shadowed by our students. Our students are working in the LAC as part of their studies and before being supervised by you have received full training in confidentiality, interviewing, note taking, client care and other key skills. From September 2022 the LAC will be based in its own dedicated, secure premises in the city centre to provide the most accessible service possible. We offer clients telephone/Teams appointments if they prefer, and equally if it is easier for you to volunteer remotely via Teams given your scheduling commitments, we are happy to accommodate this. Volunteering slots are allocated with as much notice as possible (months ahead, wherever we can) in order for volunteering to be manageable for busy local solicitors.
We welcome volunteers from all the areas of expertise listed above, at all levels of qualification. It is good management experience for those at the start of their career, and a great way of giving back to the community for those in more senior positions. You are welcome to contact Rachel Stalker, Solicitor & Clinical Legal Education Programme Leader, for further information: r.stalker@ljmu.ac.uk