How are Law Centres different?

• All Law Centres have salaried staff, including solicitors, barristers and community workers.  There are LCF Rules for Membership and Minimum Criteria
• Law Centres are specialists in social welfare law. This covers employment, immigration, education, housing, community care, benefits, etc.  They prioritise work that affects the most disadvantaged, such as race, sex and disability discrimination.
• Law Centres are non profit making and independent. They are accountable to local people.
• Law Centres receive funding from both central and local government.  They attract additional funding from national and local trusts and charities.
• Law Centre workers support and offer training to local generalist advice agencies and solicitors in private practice, as well as social workers and community workers.
• Law Centres work closely with local agencies to ensure that there is no duplication of services. They take referrals from a wide range of organisations, including referrals from local councillors and MPs.
• Diversity of Law Centres funding allows them to help clients who are not eligible for CLS funding.

A distinctive approach

Law Centres’ approach to providing a legal service is distinctive. As well as providing advice and assistance, Law Centres :

• Provide representation. In particular, Law Centres have specialised in representing people at Employment and Immigration Tribunals.
• Work with local groups, such as lone parents or young people to explain their rights.
• Work with local authority officers and councillors on the introduction and implementation of local policies.
• Participate in local forums debating local issues, such as policing and environmental improvements, feeding in the views of local people.
• Participate in planning services and especially the planning and co-ordination of local legal and advice services and the overall community strategies being developed by Local Strategic Partnerships.