The Law Clinic stands as a flagship initiative within the Centre for Community Engagement and Learning, breaking down barriers to justice by providing free legal advice.
Bloomsbury Law Clinic
About the Bloomsbury Law Clinic
The mission and purpose of the Bloomsbury Law Clinic is two-fold:
Social justice
We provide free legal advice to people who are not eligible for legal aid and cannot afford to pay.
Student learning
The law clinic provides law students with clinical experience, and non-law students with the opportunity to develop their transferrable skills.
Where can we help?
Housing
Housing, tenancy disputes, disrepair, homelessness, and deposit recovery.
Family
All areas of family law.
Civil law
Contractual, consumer, general civil law disputes.
Property
Ownership and occupation of the family home.
Wills
Wills and probate services.
Court forms
Help understanding legal jargon.
Please note that the Bloomsbury Law Clinic is not able to advise on matters concerning welfare benefits, debt, taxation, criminal or regulatory issues. Although we do advise on housing and property law, we do not provide advice to landlords on tenancy disputes. We are also unable to represent our clients in courts or tribunals for both educational and professional reasons. This restriction also applies to a client’s request for someone from the Clinic to go along with them to a hearing.
How does it work?
Every year, we train students to offer guidance to individuals who cannot afford the services of a solicitor and don’t qualify for free legal aid. To ensure professional oversight, a team of solicitors dedicated to social justice supervise the students’ work on a pro bono basis. Students not studying law also contribute to the Law Clinic by volunteering in administrative and management roles.
The clinic focuses on housing-related legal matters, providing legal advice on Housing Law, for residential tenants (we do not provide advice to landlords), covering tenancy disputes, disrepair and homelessness, and civil and family disputes.
We provide our clients with comprehensive written advice to help clarify legal procedures and support them through disputes. All advice provided by the law clinic is supervised by a registered legal practitioner. After the interview, the Student Advisor will draft a letter of advice, which is reviewed by the Clinic’s Director, before it is finalised and sent to the client.
Step 2
If your case is accepted, you will be invited to a 45-minute interview with a Student Advisor. This can take place online (via Teams) or in-person.
Step 3
Following the interview, you will receive a written letter of advice within 15 working days.
Step 4
If appropriate, the Student Advisor will provide a template letter to send to your opponent.
Step 5
We can offer one follow-up appointment if necessary.
We train Student Advisors and Student Assistants in the Bloomsbury Law Clinic. Advisors interview and advise clients, this provides them with invaluable clinical legal experience, which can count towards the hours required to register with CILEx. Student Assistants develop key transferrable skills by completing administrative tasks associated with the running of the Law Clinic.
Clients receive impartial legal advice, which is reviewed by practising and fully-qualified solicitors, for free.
Bloomsbury Law Clinic is a member of LawWorks
We are a member of LawWorks, a charity committed to enabling access to justice through free legal advice. LawWorks believes in the power of pro bono legal advice to help improve the lives of people in need.
As a member of LawWorks, all those involved with our Law Clinic have access to a range of resources, and training and networking opportunities.
We're on the move
Our Mobile Advice Clinic brings free legal advice to the streets! Bloomsbury Law Clinic can operate pop-up clinics wherever we’re needed.
If you’re organising a community event or know of a community that could use free legal advice, please do get in touch and we’d be happy to bring our legal expertise to you.
