CWJ regulatory information

Centre for Women’s Justice is not regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) as an organisation, because we are a charity. However, all solicitors who give legal advice on behalf of CWJ (as CWJ employees or consultants working for CWJ, or as solicitors on our panel providing pro bono advice) are regulated by the SRA and must comply with the SRA Principles and the SRA Code of Conduct. All barristers who give legal advice on behalf of CWJ (as CWJ employees or consultants working for CWJ, or as barristers on our panel providing pro bono advice) are regulated by the Bar Standards Board (BSB) and must comply with the professional duties set out in the BSB Handbook.

Insurance

Advice provided by Centre for Women’s Justice lawyers, whether CWJ employees or consultants working for CWJ, or lawyers on our panel providing pro bono advice, is covered by professional indemnity insurance.

Conflicts of interest

Centre for Women’s Justice provides legal advice to women in relation to male violence and the functions of state bodies. We do not provide legal advice to state bodies or to men, therefore in these types of cases we do not have a conflict of interest. In any other type of enquiry we will consider whether we could have a conflict of interest, and may ask for further information to complete a conflict check.

Confidentiality

We will keep all information provided to us confidential, unless required to disclose it by law (for example if there is an immediate risk to life, harm to a child or a court order requiring disclosure). We will only share information with lawyers on our panel with the client’s consent. We will not use the information for any other purpose without the client’s consent.

As a charity, rather than a legal firm, the organisation as a whole is not regulated by the SRA, even though all our solicitors are regulated by them as individuals. There are some circumstances under which information or documents in your case needs to be shared with CWJ employees in order for CWJ to carry out its work for you and for the proper running of the charity.

To ensure that a similarly strict level of confidentiality applies to non-regulated employees, a condition of employment of all staff members at CWJ is that they have a duty of confidentiality and a requirement to safeguard information belonging to clients and the organisation. That is set out both in their employment contract and the staff handbook, both of which they are required to sign.

Data Protection

Information that we receive from your referral, or that you share with us, is stored on our secure database. We record information so we can keep track of the legal work we do with you and refer back to it if we need to in future. We rely on the data protection principle of ‘legitimate interest’ because we have to keep your records in order to provide a service to you. We are also required to keep all your records for a minimum of six full years by our insurer. Data will be stored on our secure system for six years (data protection principle of ‘legal obligation’) from the end of our work with you, after which time it will be archived and no longer retrievable. You are entitled to receive a copy of your records at any time upon request. Please see our privacy policy for further information.

Legal Professional Privilege

All records relating to your contact with a lawyer at CWJ, either directly or via your support worker, will have legal professional privilege, which means that it does not have to be disclosed to the police or the courts in legal proceedings. The legal privilege belongs to you, not to the lawyer, so you can choose to waive it if you wish, and you can request legal advice on that if it arises. It is rare for a person to be asked to waive their legal privilege.

Complaints

We hope you never have cause to be dissatisfied with the service we provide. However, if you are dissatisfied with any aspect of our service, Centre for Women’s Justice operates a complaints procedure here.

If we have not resolved your complaint to your satisfaction within eight weeks, you may complain to the Legal Ombudsman:

by post at Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH
by telephone: 0300 555 0333, or
by email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk

You also have the right to complain about any professional conduct matters relating to a CWJ solicitor to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (The Cube, 199 Wharfside Street, Birmingham, B1 1RN, telephone 0370 606 2555, https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/).

You have the right to complain about any professional conduct matters relating to a CWJ barrister to the Bar Standards Board (289-293 High Holborn, London WC1V 7ZH, telephone 020 7611 1444, https://www.barstandardsboard.org.uk/contact-us.html).