University of Bolton’s award-winning Legal Advice Centre to offer free town centre session for local community

The University of Bolton is holding a free legal advice session for the community on Thursday 22 June.

The session, offered by the University’s award-winning Legal Advice Centre, will take place at Bolton Central Library between 11am and 2pm.

It will be an opportunity for the public to access free, impartial, legal advice on a wide range of topics from the University’s law students and tutors.

Terry Cokell, Legal Advice Centre Co-ordinator, said: “We hope the event will help us to address the community’s ever-growing need for legal advice.

“We have been overwhelmed by the support that the Centre has had over the last four years, and we have been able to assist more than 600 clients through our student advisor team.”

Terry said that demand for appointments was so high that there was now a “substantial waiting list”.

She added: “We hope that  offering an open session to the community, working in partnership with the local library service, that we can reach more people who need our help.”

The free session will run as a drop-in, with student advisors and qualified solicitors available to help on a wide range of legal matters.

The community sessions have been well received and further events are planned across the borough. Farnworth is planned as the next district the team aim to visit.

Ian Bowden, Assistant Teaching Professor and Solicitor Advocate, at the University of Bolton, who leads the project said; “We hope to be able to visit all corners of the borough with our legal advice in these community events.

“They are a crucial way of ensuring we support our local communities whilst also allowing our students to develop the skills and experience they will need in legal practice.”