Southwark Law Centre

Who we are

About Southwark Law Centre

Southwark Law Centre was set up in 1976, and originally provided a service in the south east of the London Borough of Southwark.  The catchment area expanded to cover the whole of the borough. In 2017 the constitution was amended to extend the area of benefit to Greater London.

In 2018 in response to the lack of specialist legal advice in Lewisham we set up Lewisham Law Centre in partnership with Citizens Advice Lewisham, who host the service. We have a Legal Aid housing contract and employ 2 housing solicitors who are based with Citizens Advice. We have also secured funding for immigration casework in partnership with Action for Refugees in Lewisham, and a contract with Lewisham council’s No Recourse to Public Fund department.

In July 2020, the service was formally recognised by the Law Centre Network as Lewisham Law Centre a branch of Southwark Law Centre.

 Legal Structure

 The Centre is a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee.

Aims and Objectives of the Centre

The Law Centre’s primary aim is the relief of poverty by provision of legal advice, representation, education, research for people in need. Our constitution allows us to take cases from across Greater London but our service remains primarily in Southwark and Lewisham and Lambeth.

Services

The Law Centre works towards achieving our aims and objectives by providing specialist legal advice and representation, which is free and of high quality in the areas of

·         Housing

·         Asylum/ Immigration

·         Employment

·         Discrimination

·         Welfare Rights

·         Public law

·         Community Care

·         Planning

·         Education

·         Windrush Compensation scheme support

We provide specialist legal advice and representation for people who could not otherwise afford to receive legal services