Projects Available to those with 3 Years PQE+
Lawyers who have at least 3 years PQE can participate in the projects referred to below. All cases referred by LawWorks have been filtered according to the criteria specific to the individual project. LawWorks project staff will clarify both the finances and the legal issues before approaching a volunteer lawyer with a matter. LawWorks will be available to help deal with any problems arising after placement, but ultimately the legal advice will be provided by the volunteer lawyer.
Lawyers can assist individuals who are unable to access legal aid and cannot afford to pay for legal advice. This would involve taking the applicant on as a client and running the case as if the applicant were fee-paying. This work is mainly contentious, but can also be non-contentious.
Lawyers can assist not-for-profit organisations which cannot afford to pay for legal advice. Again, this would involve taking the organisation on as a client and running the matter as if the applicant were fee-paying. This work is mainly non-contentious but is becoming increasingly contentious in the current climate.
LawWorks Mediation Project encourages applicants to resolve their disputes without going to court. Any volunteer lawyer who is an accredited mediator can volunteer to assist with mediation. Legal advisors are often needed to assist applicants during the mediation and this is something that any volunteer lawyer can participate in.
As mentioned above, LawWorks assesses each application individually and looks at various criteria. One of the criteria deals with the legal merits of the matter and we use volunteer lawyers to help us with this assessment. The volunteer lawyers must be at least 6 years qualified and it is helpful if they have some experience of litigation. The reviewers are asked to decide whether or not they feel any given matter is suitable for pro bono work. This can be done from a distance or from the LawWorks office.
