Legal advice to women’s support services

Please read about our service below before you make a request for legal advice.

CWJ is a small charity which runs a legal enquiries service providing legal advice free of charge in relation to violence against women and girls. This is a limited service and advice is based on the issues and information presented to us. CWJ does not have conduct of the case and the survivor remains responsible for her matter including meeting any legal deadlines.

If you are seeking advice on behalf of a survivor or other individual, you will need to have their authorisation to seek assistance from CWJ, but we don’t need their name.

See here for our guide to working with frontline women’s services. Advice may be given by CWJ’s in-house lawyers, or in some cases pro bono advice may be given by lawyers on our legal panel. Where the client qualifies for legal aid, or other funding options, we may refer her to lawyers on our panel who can take on a case and represent her formally.

What type of legal issues do we help with?

We assist with legal advice in the following areas of law, where the enquiry relates to violence against women and girls:

 Enquiries which do not come within the categories above will be assessed case by case.

When are we unable to assist with a legal enquiry?

• If the client already has a lawyer advising them we cannot assist, unless there is a good reason why they are not happy with their current lawyer.
  

• If there is a legal deadline or court hearing within 7 days we may not be able to assist, depending on the case. Please do contact us well in advance of any deadlines wherever possible.
  

• During periods of high demand, or if we are short-staffed, we may not be able to assist with all requests for advice, or may have to give limited assistance only. During such times we may apply a priority system for certain categories of enquiries.

Timeframes

When you submit a request for advice via one of our two referral forms, you will receive an automated acknowledgement. After this, you will hear from us within 72 hours informing you which lawyer at CWJ is dealing with the enquiry and an indication of the future time scale. We may also seek further information from you.

How to access our service

If you are a staff member at a women’s service or other women’s sector organisation please submit your request through the following application forms.

If you are individual seeking help for yourself - please go to our advice page here