This is a free service for civil appeals only (it does not cover family cases), providing free guidance and basic advice for those without legal representation who wish to appeal a county court decision – or are a respondent to an appeal.
It covers decisions made in a court in Bristol, Gloucester, Weston Super Mare, Taunton, Yeovil or Bath. Appointments will take place once a fortnight, so please bear this in mind if there is an urgent deadline or hearing.
What we do
We will offer you a half hour telephone appointment with a qualified barrister or solicitor, legal executive, trainee solicitor or paralegal. All these people are offering their time for free. Phone calls to you will be made between 9am – 5pm on a given day.
We will take your details and check, prior to the appointment, that there is no conflict of interest with the person advising you to make sure that they are not representing the other side.
We will send you an outcome form which will give brief details of the appeal and the basic advice/guidance provided.
What you need to do
You can make an appointment by phoning the Law Centre on 0117 924 8662 (Monday – Friday 10am -4pm) or emailing lawclinic@bristollawcentre.org.uk
Before making the call, please have the following information to hand (we cannot process the appointment without this information)
- Whether you are the appellant (the person making the appeal) or the respondent.
- Your details – name, address, phone number, email
- Your case number – that is the one issued by the court
- The names and addresses of everyone involved
- The document called ‘reasons for allowing or refusing an appeal’ (N460). We will ask you to send us a copy of this
We would also advise you to have lodged a notice of appeal with the Court. This is not essential, but an appointment may be of more use to you after this has been lodged. We can only offer one appointment for each individual case.
What we cannot do
The Law Centre cannot offer you any advice on the issue; we are simply making an appointment for you to talk to someone who is legally qualified to do so. The volunteer legal advisor cannot offer you anything more than the half an hour appointment, if you require further representation on the case, it is likely you will have to pay. We do not offer representation at hearings, but the volunteer lawyer may be able to refer you to other sources of support.