Frequently Asked Questions

Advocate only works with barristers, not solicitors. A solicitor is usually the first port of call for a legal problem. They can advise on contracts, start divorce proceedings, help with immigration applications and generally assist with most administration and paperwork for common legal issues. Barristers generally get involved once court proceedings have been started. So if you are served with formal court papers, an eviction notice or are involved in child contact proceedings, that's when you will need a barrister to advise you on what to do next. Click here for a useful guide to the differences. 

The best way to get in touch is by email. It is quicker than calling.

If you do not have an application yet, please use enquiries@weareadvocate.org.uk

If you already have an application and a reference number, please use application@weareadvocate.org.uk and quote the reference number.

Online form (individuals only)

Downloadable form for individuals

Downloadable form for organisations

To be able to decide whether we can help you, we need to have a lot of information. We can only help people who can't afford to pay, so we need detailed financial information and proof that you can't get legal aid. To decide whether your case is suitable for barrister help, we need a lot of documents about your situation (including letters and court orders) so the case can get through the review process.

We understand that the form can be quite detailed. You can take it to a referral agency like Citizens' Advice, a Law Centre or university legal advice clinic and ask them to help you. Alternatively, you can call us on 020 7092 3960 and leave a voicemail specifying that you need help completing a form. Someone will aim to get back to you within a few days and will help you to complete it over the phone.

Once we receive your application form, we log it and send you an email acknowledgement. A caseworker then looks at the form and begins to process the information in it. If we need more, we will email or write to you and let you know. If we have what we need, we pass the application to the review stage. This is where a senior lawyer looks at your case and decides whether we will be able to help. If we can't, we will let you know and signpost you to another organisation that may be able to help. If we can, we will begin looking for a barrister for you. If we find someone who can help, we will let you know and put you directly in touch with them. If we cannot find anyone, we will let you know before your deadline (if you have one) expires.

We can only deal with applications where the deadline is more than three weeks away. It doesn’t matter if you do not yet have a court date, you can still apply to Advocate while you wait for one. The more time we have to process your case and look for help, the better.

We can only help people who cannot afford to pay for their own legal representation, so the financial criteria are quite strict. We need you to apply for legal aid first and provide proof that you are not eligible for that. We also need to know that you do not have insurance that will cover legal expenses or spare income that you can use. It is important to answer all the financial questions very carefully and in detail.

We have many different barristers who work in lots of specialist areas signed up with us and we offer to help with any area of law.

We usually ask you not to apply unless your deadline is more than 3 weeks away because applications can take this amount of time to process. But there are some exceptions:

• You are at risk of imminent street homelessness
• Where a child is due to be taken into care
• You are at risk of losing your liberty (through imprisonment or administrative removal)
• You have a barrister already in place who has helped you before

While we try our hardest to help everyone we can, we can never guarantee that we will be able to find you a barrister because they are all volunteers and sometimes there is just no-one available to take a particular case. We will always try to signpost you to another organisation and let you know in advance of any deadlines in case we can't find help. 

No. If you have documents and need help you don't need to wait for your hearing date to apply. The earlier you get your application in, the more chance we will be able to find a barrister to help you in time.

We need as much relevant information as possible, including court documents and letters from solicitors. Please check this document for guidance on the documents it would be useful to include, organised by area of law.

It is our policy to reject cases that are listed for more than three days because this is too much time to ask a barrister to give up for free. Advocate asks for a maximum commitment of three days a year, so with the amount of time it would take to prepare a case, a three-day listing will be too long to ask our barristers for help.

We have a very small team and a lot of applications, so please be patient. We only get in touch when we actually have some news, so if you don't hear from us, it usually means we have nothing to report yet.

Due to the huge volume of cases we receive and the small size of the casework team, it is difficult for us to take telephone calls without it causing delays. Email is the best form of communication. Before you have an application, use enquiries@weareadvocate.org.uk and once you have an application and a reference number, please use application@weareadvocate.org.uk. We will get back to you as soon as possible, usually within a few days.

All cases are reviewed before we look for a barrister to help. We have a small panel of reviewers whose job it is to filter the applications for legal and financial merit. They do not examine the case closely enough to be able to provide advice – that comes later if we find a barrister.

Unfortunately, Advocate is unable to assist with paying for court transcripts. You have options to apply for a free transcript. Please visit: https://www.gov.uk/apply-transcript-court-tribunal-hearing for further guidance on which forms to send to your court. If you do not think you will be able to obtain a court transcript before your deadline, please inform Advocate as soon as possible and we will let our reviewer know.