Volunteering can be a great way to give back to the local community. It can also provide opportunities to gain valuable work experience and develop transferable skills. If you are interested in volunteering with us, we would love to hear from you.
Volunteers do not give legal advice but can help with a wide range of administrative and casework tasks, such as:
Dealing with incoming and outgoing post
Filing, scanning and photocopying
Assisting with orders for stationery and office equipment
Entering data onto electronic records
Responding to incoming telephone enquiries
Meeting and greeting members of the public who come to CALS for advice
Contacting clients to arrange and confirm appointments, to ensure that they remain in contact with the service and to obtain feedback after their cases have been closed
Helping to gather follow-up data from clients after their cases are closed.
Undertaking legal research
Assisting with routine casework tasks as directed by individual advisers
Completing welfare benefit forms with clients
Volunteers are generally expected to have a good standard of numeracy and literacy; to be able to work as part of a team; and to be committed to the values and aims of the Community Advice and Law Service. We ask our volunteers to commit to working with us for at least 6 months and to attend for a minimum of one half-day per week.
We offer volunteers training and support to help them develop the skills that they need to carry out the tasks allocated to them and to achieve their personal objectives.
At any given time, we have a limited number of volunteer placements available.