Working for a Law Centre

All Law Centres employ paid staff and are managed by voluntary management committees comprised of representatives of local communities and other interested parties.

Solicitors working in Law Centres are subject to the same rules as solicitors who work in high street firms.  The difference though is that Law Centres are not-for-profit organisations.  Law Centres hold the Specialist Level Quality Mark which means that they have reached the required standard of quality as laid down by the Legal Services Commission.

Law Centres are unable to meet all the demands placed upon them and have to concentrate on the areas of law that disproportionately affect poor people.  Amongst the most common areas of work are housing and homelessness, welfare benefits, employment, immigration and nationality, community care and all forms of discrimination and human rights issues.

Law Centres do not do any commercial work, such as conveyancing, probate, divorce, adult crime or personal injury work.

What sort of skills are needed?

All Law Centres employ solicitors and barristers. A Law Centre needs at least one senior solicitor (possibly five years Post Qualification Experience). This is particularly relevant where a Law Centre is running a Trainee Solicitor programme.  The Law Centre will also need suitably qualified workers to supervise each area of law that the Law Centre holds a Quality Mark for.  In addition Law Centres employ managers, administrators, advice workers, community workers, researchers and volunteer co-ordinators.

Law Centre workers need a wide range of skills including an awareness of social exclusion issues and the ability to empathise with their clients.  Law Centre workers also need to be willing to use their knowledge and skills to inform people of their rights and to partake in community legal education projects – to give training and talks to other groups and to generally contribute to social policy work in conjunction with other Law Centres and the Law Centres Federation. 

Law Centre work is for those who want to make a positive contribution to society.  To affect change and provide a channel for people to air their grievances.  Law Centres deal with new areas of law and often there is no text book with the answer.  They require people who develop and extend legal remedies and use the law in innovative ways.  Law Centre workers spend time researching case law and have been seminal to the development of legal services in this country.

Trainee Solicitors

Since 2002, the Legal Services Commission has provided grants to support the training of trainee solicitors.  Some Law Centres have been successful in being awarded grants under this scheme. In 2008, 16 Law Centres were successful. Vacancies are advertised along with permanent posts on the LCF website.

Terms and Conditions

Salaries differ from Law Centre to Law Centre but generally speaking they are in line with Local Authority Salary Scales.  Holidays and other entitlements tend to be fairly good.

What should you do if you want to work in a Law Centre

All Law Centres adhere to equal opportunity and diversity policies and all posts are advertised.  Vacancies are usually advertised in the Guardian newspaper, Legal Action Group’s monthly journal, and the Law Society’s Gazette.  They are also advertised on this website under Vacancies

If you are interested in doing legal aid work and would like some guidance on how to get started, here are couple of useful articles: Legal Aid in 21st century Omar Khan 03.09.pdf and a short briefing from the Young Legal Aid Lawyers Group: YLAL Notes on Legal Aid.pdf