What's new

The first clients to use the new Gateshead Community Legal Advice Centre will be coming through its doors from April 2007.

Gateshead Centre is the first in a series of new networks and centres being established in England and Wales for people with the greatest need of legal and advice services.

Gateshead Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) and Gateshead Law Centre have joined forces to secure a contract to run the new service. The new centre provides integrated services from basic advice to representation at court to help people with social welfare and family legal problems, which are frequently related.

For the first time, local residents will be able to access a full range of help from the same place. The same range of services will also be available through a number of outreach venues throughout Gateshead.

The centre brings together civil legal aid funded by the Legal Services Commission (LSC) and social welfare services funded by Gateshead Council, to provide more coordinated and cost-effective services and to tackle the common causes of recurring problems.

Gateshead CAB and Gateshead Law Centre are joined by three law firms to deliver additional services through the centre:

• Swinburne and Jackson
• Ben Hoare Bell
• David Gray and Company

The Centre will improve access to justice by offering legal services that help more people in more cost-effective ways.

For more information about Community Legal Advice Centres, see our Developing the CLS pages.