26,000 get free legal advice

Almost 26,000 people received free legal advice from FLAC last year but some are waiting up to six months for a first consultation in a Legal Aid Board office.

Figures in FLAC’s 2016 annual report, to be launched today, show that of the 12,229 calls to its helpline, almost a quarter (24%) related to family law. The second most common issue was housing/landlord and tenant issues (8.6%) followed by employment law (7.9%).

Of the 13,481 callers to its clinics, family law accounted for 34% of cases, employment law 14.7%, with wills and probate accounting for 9.5%, and housing issues 7.4%.