Projects Available to lawyers ar any stage of their careers
The following opportunities can be tailored to lawyers at any stage in their careers, including trainees:
Initial Electronic Advice
This is a method of providing advice to individuals and not-for-profit groups by email. The advice is provided anonymously so the recipient will not be aware who provided the advice and therefore follow-up questions are avoided.
Practical Advice Talks
LawWorks provides free legal training sessions to small not for profit organisations. These sessions tend to concentrate on one particular area of law that is relevant to the organisations in attendance, for example, Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures. Volunteer lawyers can provide these training sessions in their area of expertise. This will provide the attendees with some background knowledge of the law and encourage best practice.
Factsheets
LawWorks offers free downloadable factsheets on the LawWorks website which provide basic legal advice to individuals and not-for-profit groups. These are intended to be a practical guide on specific areas of law for those who have no legal knowledge. Volunteer lawyers can draft these leaflets for LawWorks in order to expand the information available online.
Clinics
LawWorks is involved with 100 legal surgeries around the country. These vary greatly from one to another, with some being appointment-based, some drop-in, some are specifically for one area of law and others are more general. The majority of these clinics are for individuals but some operate for not-for-profits too. Volunteer lawyers can attend a clinic on a regular basis to provide advice to those in need.
Lawyer Training
Many of the lawyers who volunteer on the clinics programme do not deal with the areas of law that arise at the sessions (usually social welfare law, housing, employment, consumer etc). LawWorks runs training session on these specific areas of law in order to give the lawyers more confidence when dealing with clients at the clinic. These sessions are free of charge and CPD accredited. If any volunteers feel that they have relevant expertise they can provide this training to other lawyers involved in LawWorks' projects.
