About the Service  |
Duty Advisers work in many County Courts around the country. We specifically deal with those facing repossession hearings, both landlord/tenant and mortgages. It is not unusual for clients to have various other issues arising,
which relate to their court hearing, such as debt, welfare benefit issues,
domestic violence, relationship breakdown, insolvency and so forth. As a
result, duty advisers generally require a broad legal base of knowledge in order to be able to
briefly advise clients on those other issues and refer them to
relevant agencies for further assistance. However, though you will require a broad legal knowledge, the primary knowledge required is housing law - landlord/tenant, mortgages, repossession procedures, pre-action protocol and so on. Duty advice work involves interviewing the client, establishing a defence, if any, and representing the client in court. You will, inevitably, not have time to read all the papers in full, so you will have to be an adept scan-reader, able to focus on the issue at hand, and be able to gather all the relevant information you require to decide on a defence, often with as little as 10-15 minutes per interview. It can be a tough job, but very rewarding. The ultimate aim of the service is to keep people in their homes. . All
written material and photographs, unless otherwise specified are
copyright (2011) to Lea Christiaanson. You should not copy or re-use any
of this information unless you have express permission, in writing, to
do so. Requests to No53Legal.gmail.com.
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