The Unit can sometimes assist community groups, charities, small companies and other organisations. Criteria for applying, and special considerations for applicants in these categories are given below. Such applicants should read the information available in the how we can help - individuals and finding an advice agency or solicitor pages and the advice agencies & solicitors pages, or please contact us for further help.

Criteria

Similar criteria apply as for individual applicants.

Public funding (legal aid) is not available.

The matter involves the law of England and Wales.

The organisation, or its members, cannot afford to pay, or reasonably be expected to pay, for legal help from a barrister. Help cannot usually be given where it is reasonable to expect that a common interest group is in a position to fund advice or representation jointly – whether from resources of the actual named applicants alone or from such resources taken together with the likely resources of others in the same interest and who can reasonably be expected to contribute. Similarly, where the actual applicant is an association or company with scant funds in its own name, it is usually necessary for the Unit to ‘look through’ and consider the likely ability of its members to make any necessary contributions from their own resources. When considering assistance to a charity, the size and budget of the charitable organisation are key. The Unit expects larger charities to have a budget for purchasing legal resources.

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.

Applying

The applicant organisation should use the standard application form, but include the following additional information:

Recent accounts for the organisation or group. 3 years of accounts are usually sufficient (audited where available, and management accounts otherwise.)

Financial details of any members of the group or organisation should be included. Where it is difficult to give individual financial details, for example where there are a large number of members of the group, please contact the Unit to establish what information is required for the initial application.

For companies, a board resolution is required authorising the receipt of assistance. A solicitor will be needed for cases accepted for representation, but may not be necessary where a particular case is accepted for advice