Legal Advocacy and Representation

We provide free legal advice clinics on any legal topic – more detail is on the linked page.   

In addition, we provide a limited free legal advocacy service for individuals who need help accessing their legal rights and entitlements in our focus areas. In suitable cases, we also offer legal representation in areas of law not catered for by the Civil Legal Aid Scheme. 

Our advocacy and representation work is focused on debt, employment, equality, housing, social welfare, children’s law, environmental justice and accessing services such as health and education, in particular cases that raise matters of public interest. We refer cases in other areas, such as criminal law and family law, to state legal aid and other services. 

Our free legal advice clinics offer 20-minute appointments (generally by phone) with a qualified lawyer who will provide initial legal information and advice on your query. 

More information is available here: Free Legal Advice Clinics Ireland – Community Law.  

In appropriate cases, our legal advocacy service assist individuals in accessing their legal rights and entitlements, such as through phone calls and letter writing.  

Our representation service includes representing clients before courts, such as the High Court, and tribunals, such as the Workplace Relations Commission and the Social Welfare Appeals Office. 

While our free legal advice clinics are open to all, due to the limits on our resources we cannot provide advocacy or representation services to everyone who requires it. We take the following factors into consideration when deciding whether we can offer advocacy or representation: 

1. Does the case fall within our priority areas?  We generally only take on cases that relate to housing law, debt law, employment law, equality law, social welfare law, children’s law, environmental justice and access to education and other services, in particular for those with disabilities.  As these are broad areas of law, within these areas CLM’s legal team sets specific priority areas identified from our work. 

2. Is the case of strategic importance? To maximise impact, we prioritise cases with the potential to benefit a wider group, such as progressing an area of law which has not been adequately developed or seeking to strike down an unjust piece of law that impacts many people. 

3. Is the matter urgent or is the issue having a serious impact on the applicant? 

4. Is the case likely to be successful? 

5. Are there other information, advice and representation services which the applicant can avail of?  In particular, if the matter would be amenable to civil legal aid we cannot assist.   

6. Resources/Capacity/Expertise: Having regard to existing workload and the likely work and resources required to progress the case, does CLM have the capacity to open the file?  Further, does CLM have the legal expertise required to deal with the specific issue? 

For further information, please contact us via phone on 01 847 7804 or email info@communitylawandmediation.ie 

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