If you live or work in the Portsmouth area, you can get free and confidential legal advice from our General Legal Advice Clinic.

You'll receive advice from our law students studying law degrees in the Portsmouth Law School. Their advice is guided by qualified solicitors and an experienced tutor.

We'll help you on the day with general information or advice if we can. If you have a complex issue and we need to undertake more legal research before providing advice, we'll set up a later appointment or send you a letter, whichever you prefer.

We can't give advice on issues to do with immigration and nationality, criminal law or criminal proceedings. We also can't give advice where a conflict of interest may arise, for example, disputes which involve the University – but if we can't help, we'll put you in touch with someone who can.

We've been open since January 2013 and help more than 200 clients resolve their legal issues each year. We were proud to receive the Vice-Chancellor's Award for Excellence in 2018.

Students discussing legal matters

Get free, confidential legal help from our law students – whose advice is guided by our qualified solicitors and experienced tutors

We can advise you on most civil law subjects including

  • Consumer problems: Can I cancel my mobile phone contract? How do I make a claim in the small claims court? How do I make a claim in the county court?
  • Landlord and tenant problems: Can I leave my tenancy early? How do I get my tenancy deposit back?
  • Employment and other work issues: My employer has not paid me, what can I do? Can my employer make me come into work on bank holidays? What can I do about bullying at work? What rights do I have if I'm made redundant or dismissed?
  • Contact with children: How can I arrange contact with my child or grandchild?
  • Power of attorney and guardianship issues: What happens if I am unable to deal with my own affairs and need someone to act on my behalf? How do I make a will to ensure anything I own is distributed to those I care about?
  • Family law: What are the grounds for divorce? What do I have to do after someone dies?

Please note: if you have concerns relating to child protection and you think a child is being abused or neglected, please contact the Portsmouth City Council Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH).

Booking an appointment

To book an appointment, email advice@port.ac.uk, or telephone +44 (0)7711 389522 or +44 (0)2392 844114.

  • Appointments are available from October to July on Mondays and Wednesdays.

During term time (October-April) advisors will be 3rd year students supervised by professionals.

Between May and July we are staffed by volunteers from our law school's first- and second-year students, under supervision, which means our opening hours will be restricted and / or the clinic may be closed

Supervisors

Volunteering as a legal advisor

If you study law with us you can become an advisor in the general legal advice clinic. To become an advisor you should take the optional module 'Law in Practice' as part of your degree. You'll develop your legal knowledge and practical skills as you discuss issues with clients, identify relevant elements of the law, and draft legal documents and letters to support your clients.

 

Contact us

Legal clinic

Portland Building 2.08
University of Portsmouth
Portsmouth
PO1 3AH

 

Other places to get legal advice

This list is based on the requests we usually receive.