Referring young people to a solicitor

In some housing cases, a young person will need to be referred to a solicitor. For example when a council refuses to take a homelessness application and provide interim accommodation for a young person, for consideration of judicial review proceedings against the council. This section looks at how to refer a young person to a solicitor.

Finding a suitable solicitor

Find out which firms of solicitors locally offer specialist CLS-funded help in housing. This will tell you two things: that the solicitor offers representation to people who need public funding, and that the solicitor will take on housing cases. You can find solicitors who offer specialist help on the Community Legal Advice directory.

If you cannot find a local solicitor who provides specialist help in housing, it may be worth contacting specialist housing advice agencies locally to ask if they can provide details of housing specialist solicitors nearby. You can find details of some specialist housing advice agencies in our advice services directory.

If you still cannot find a solicitor, and your client is 16 or 17 years old, the Children's Legal Centre might be able to help.

Effective referral to a solicitor

You are more likely to be able to make a referral to a solicitor if you have a pre-existing relationship with them than if you phone up with an emergency case that needs to be taken on that day. Contact them to discuss the kind of problems your clients are likely to experience and referral arrangements. Explain that you may have emergency cases (for example, where a young person is homeless and may have to sleep rough) and ask about how to refer your client in these circumstances.

Solicitors will often need lots of information about a case. When making a referral to a solicitor, make sure that, if possible, you have the following available to send to her/him:

• your case notes, including details of the client, the situation, and any action you have taken so far
• any correspondence and notes on any telephone conversations in respect of the case (remember to get written decisions from agencies that you have been advocating to on behalf of the young person where possible)
• a copy of the client's file from the council where applicable
• evidence of the client's income (for example, proof of receipt of benefits) - this will be important if the client needs to claim public funding.

If either the young person or the solicitor request it, you can accompany the young person to the appointment, provided this is acceptable to both the solicitor and the young person.