Bringing a case to BLS

Before caseworkers at BLS can take on your case, it needs to be referred to us by a local advice agency, CAB, or similar group. Staff or volunteers at these agencies will assess your problem and may well be able to deal with it themselves. However, if it is likely to need specialist casework, negotiation or tribunal hearings, they will refer your case to us if our solicitors/caseworkers have the capacity to take the case on at that particular time.

As our staff have requests to take on more cases than they have time for, we have to turn away clients who have the money to pay for a private solicitor, or can access legal advice through a Trades Union or through legal expenses insurance. For this reason also we do not work for landlords, employers or businesses.

If you work at an advice agency in North London – particularly in Barnet - and want to refer a client to BLS, please check on this website that it is an area of law and a type of case with which we can help. If it is, please phone and speak to the caseworker to check that s/he has capacity to take the case on. We can email or fax you a referral form to complete, have your client sign it and then send it back to us. We will contact the client direct, and let you know the outcome of the case once it has finished.

As part of the new Barnet Community Advice Service contract, BLS can only accept Welfare Benefit cases by referral from Barnet CAB. All Welfare Benefit clients or their advisers therefore need to phone the Advice Barnet helpline on 0844 826 9336.

The exception to the referral rule is in Immigration and Asylum, where clients can refer themselves, and are invited to attend our weekly drop-in sessions for initial assessment (see the Immigration and Asylum Law page).