LawWorks supports a network of free legal advice clinics in England and Wales. Support provided through clinics is characterised as early intervention in areas of social welfare law – benefits, employment, housing, debt etc. LawWorks training is a crucial plank in the clinics network. Many lawyers who volunteer at clinics specialise in different areas of law, but their general legal knowledge equips them to provide real value in free legal advice clinics.

Training provides two essential added benefits:

1. The confidence to provide advice in an unfamiliar setting, and
2. The skill to recognise where referral for further, specialist in-depth legal advice is required

LawWorks training provides 40 free sessions a year in social welfare law to member firms and volunteers at free legal advice clinics. These seminars are available through podcasts over the internet as well as face to face and are CPD accredited. They are highly valued by members and provide a cost effective method of ensuring that a generation of lawyers are learning broad based legal skills to build on their existing knowledge in order to effect social change. Training also includes practical advice skills and other areas specific to particular projects and services. Feedback from training courses is used to direct future training programmes and ensure that legal needs of those seeking help are addressed. LawWorks trainers provide these sessions pro bono and member firms provide training venues at their premises free of charge.

LawWorks free training is available among others to solicitors who are unemployed or taking a career break and thus helps keep their skills up-to-date and enables them to re-enter the profession in a paid capacity. These members (through the Choices membership scheme) in turn volunteer their legal skills to people and charities in need of free legal advice.

The grant from the Legal Education Foundation will allow LawWorks to produce twenty online training videos during 2013.

Contact Rebecca Hilsenrath (CEO) by phone on 020 7092 3956 or by email at rebecca.hilsenrath@lawworks.org.uk