All applications to the Unit must be made through a solicitor or advice agency (for example a Citizens Advice Bureau or Law Centre). Advice agencies and solicitors are strongly encouraged to contact us at any point to talk through questions, discuss particular cases, or give us feedback.
All applications must be made on our application form, which can be downloaded from the documents to download page and is also available from the Unit on request.
Help available
The Unit can assist with anything a barrister could help with in a paying case including:
- specialist legal advice in writing or in a meeting
- representation at hearings in courts, tribunals, and at mediation
The Unit can assist in all areas of law. Full information on the help available can be found on the applying for help - full details pages of this website. Some examples of cases in which the Unit has provided assistance can found on the case examples page of this website.
Criteria
Help may be available if the following apply:
- Public funding (legal aid) cannot be obtained for the work needed
- The matter involves the law of England and Wales
- The applicant cannot afford to pay for the help needed or get it elsewhere
- The case merits assistance on a pro bono basis - this usually involves consideration of the legal merit of the case
- Except in exceptional cases, each single piece of work for which assistance is requested will take 3 days or less (although the Unit may provide more help than this over several pieces of work within a single case)
- The case requires the assistance of a barrister who can act where necessary without a solicitor
The Unit is a charity with limited resources, and can only help in some cases.
How to apply
All applications to the Unit must be made through a solicitor or advice agency.
Referring solicitors and agencies need to complete the Unit's application form. You can contact us to receive a copy of the application form in the post. Alternatively, It can be downloaded from the documents to download page.
Copies of all necessary supporting documents must be sent with the form. Please see the documents to send pages for further information.
The Unit needs the application form with all necessary documents at least 3 weeks before help is needed. We may have to ask for further information after we receive the original application, so we advise that applications are made as early as possible. In more urgent cases, please contact us by telephone or email. For further information, please see the deadlines for applying page.
We will aim to contact the referring solicitor or agency with a decision as to whether or not we can help within 3 weeks of receiving the application form and all necessary documents. Please see the how applications are processed page for more information.
Any significant developments, such as a change of hearing date, change in financial circumstances, settlement of the case, obtaining of public funding, or alternative offer of help which occur after an application has been submitted must be immediately reported to the Unit.
The role of the advice agency or solicitor
We rely on the referring agency or solicitor to:
- Make the initial application to the Unit. It is entirely up to each solicitor or advice agency whether or not to make an application to the Unit in any individual case.
- Assist with provision of any further information requested by the Unit.
- Remain as the point of contact until a decision is made as to whether the Unit can help.
If an advice agency or solicitor is able to stay involved after a volunteer barrister is allocated, that is the best possible scenario in a case.
Please see the working together page for more information on the relationship between the Unit and referrers.
Important note about costs
The service provided by the Unit is entirely free. However, in certain cases, costs have to be paid by the client of a volunteer barrister to the party on the other side in the case. Fuller information is available on the costs risk page.