Guide to finding free legal help

ENGLAND & WALES: if you’re an individual looking for legal help in England and Wales, you may be able to get help locally from a Citizens Advice, a Law Centre, an AdviceUK member or other advice agency or clinic. There are two key websites to find various local agencies, see advicelocal.uk (which also links to online guidance) and advicefinder.turn2us.org.uk.

Legal aid may be available, for more information see gov.uk/legal-aid

Where legal aid is unavailable and a person cannot afford to pay for a lawyer, pro bono help may be available from volunteer lawyers. This includes from clinics which are part of the LawWorks Clinics Network, from University law school clinics, or from a barrister via Advocate.

SCOTLAND: if you are an individual looking for legal help in Scotland, you may be able to get help locally from a Citizens Advice, a law centre, an Advice UK member, or other local agency. There are two key websites to find various local agencies, see advicelocal.uk (which also links to online guidance) and advicefinder.turn2us.org.uk.

The Scottish government has a website which signposts to various sources of help, including legal aid: mygov.scot/legal-advice

Where legal aid is unavailable and a person cannot afford to pay for a lawyer, pro bono help may be available from volunteer lawyers, including via the Faculty of Advocates’ Free Legal Services Unit, which accepts referrals from a network of accredited agencies.

For more detailed information please see the Guides to Pro Bono & Other Free Advice.

NORTHERN IRELAND: if you’re an individual looking for legal help in Northern Ireland, please check the Helplines website for a list of other organisations that may be able to help: