Processes and Legal Disclaimers
Below are the various processes and legal disclaimers for our in-house pro bono clinics. Please see Support Through Court's pages for their specific details as this is a charity organisation hosted by the School of Law.
The process
When you contact CommLaw and FreeLaw with your issue, your case will be dealt with by a member of the relevant group. This member will be the main contact of correspondence. Both clinics offer a two-week timeframe between acceptance of the case and providing advice. This can be subject to change but is done very infrequently.
CommLaw and FreeLaw are advice-only services, and we cannot provide representation, contact third parties on your behalf or draft documents.
Standards and confidentiality
All of our in-house clinics are committed to high-quality legal advice and client care. The advice and research is overseen by qualified solicitors who are also university employees.
It is important to us that the details surrounding casework remain confidential. However, occasionally, it may be necessary to discuss matters with members of the School of Law to ensure that our advice is accurate. In addition, a portfolio of our work may be prepared in relation to our academic studies. In those circumstances, it could be that an external examiner from another university has access to sensitive information.
All those dealing with our pro bono schemes appreciate the importance of confidentiality, and our use of that information is subject to our client's instructions, the Data Protection Act 2018, and our duty of confidentiality.
Affiliations with the University of Sheffield
Although members of the School of Law run the project, the clients and their cases are confidential and distinct from the university itself. Only authorised members of the pro bono teams will have access to client information.
Support Through court