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Establishing a Harrow Law Centre

A group of local people have been working hard to raise funds to establish a law centre in Harrow.  We now have sufficient funds to get a basic service up and running and are in the process of finding suitable premises. 

What does a law centre do?

•  A Law Centres is non-profit making and independent from the local authority
• Any organisation wishing to call itself a law centre must be accepted as a member by the Law Centres Federation.  This means abiding by certain rules for membership and ensuring that certain minimum standards are met.
• All Law Centres have salaried staff, including solicitors, barristers and community workers. 
• Law Centres are specialists in social welfare law. This covers for example community care, family, housing, education, employment, debt, immigration, community care, benefits, etc. 
• Advice is provided free and priority is given to work that affects the most disadvantaged
• Law Centre workers support and offer training to local generalist advice agencies, as well as social workers and community workers.
• Law Centres work closely with local agencies to ensure that there is no duplication of services. They take referrals from a wide range of organisations, including referrals from local councillors and MPs.
• Law Centres can provide representation at Court and at tribunals.
• Law Centres work with local groups, such as lone parents or young people to explain their rights.
• Law Centres also work with local authority officers and councillors on the introduction and implementation of local policies.
• They participate in local forums debating local issues, such as policing and environmental improvements, feeding in the views of local people.
• Participate in planning services and especially the planning and co-ordination of local legal and advice services and the overall community strategies being developed by Local Strategic Partnerships.

Harrow Law Centre

The law centre in Harrow will be staffed by experienced lawyers who will provide free specialist legal advice to the local community.  The Law Centre will operate by referral only from the existing voluntary sector where the community organisation is unable to assist their clients for example where the person needs a solicitor’s letter, or representation in court or at an upper tribunal or advice on bringing a judicial review.  We hope that the law centre will be able to offer second tier advice to local community groups to assist their clients but also to assist the voluntary sector if they feel they have been treated unfairly in funding applications by a public body. 

You can visit the Harrow Law Centre website at www.harrowlawcentre.org.uk

For more information please e-mail: julia.smith@harrowcvs.org.uk