For over ten years I have been running a free legal clinic in Killay on Thursday afternoons. For many years I ran this free legal clinic from a room in the Killay Tourist Information office until it closed a couple of years ago. Since then I have continued with the legal clinic at “Round the Square” coffee house in Killay shopping precinct. The coffee shop serves as an informal meeting place where the public can come and discuss legal issues with me over a pot of tea or cup of coffee.
I started running this free legal clinic in Killay when the Community Council were looking at ways to improve services offered within the community of Killay. The idea of a drop in legal clinic met with interest and has been of great help to a large number of people over the years.
I have found that a lot of people are frightened as to how much a discussion with a solicitor will cost and that they are reluctant to enquire over the telephone, just in case they are charged for their enquiry. That is most certainly not the case and I therefore invite anyone with a legal issue to give me or another solicitor within the firm a ring to discuss matters, or if it is more convenient, simply call in to the café on a Thursday afternoon for an informal “no obligation chat”.
Over the years in Killay I have found that a lot of people want to know whether they should make a Will, for example, and how much it will cost. Armed with the relevant information and charges I regularly receive a further call asking that I act on their behalf in whatever matter concerns them. Many people still perceive solicitors to be grumpy old men in mothballed pinstriped suits! To be frank, it is rather exhilarating (and a relief!) to be told that you are nothing like what the client was expecting! (Sorry grumpy old man in a mothballed pinstripe suit)
Such has been the success of the legal clinic in Killay that last year, Phillips Green & Murphy started another drop-in clinic at Café Valance on Newton Road in Mumbles on a Wednesday afternoon. The Mumbles clinic is run by Helen Phillips, who is a Director of the firm and an experienced Family solicitor. The clinic is, so far, proving to be very popular within the community of Mumbles.
As a firm we are hoping that the Mumbles drop in legal clinic will continue be as helpful to our local communities as the Killay one has been for many years. We feel that by offering this service we are helping those people within the areas in which we live providing a friendly but, at the same time, professional personal service.
Over and above everything else though, I think it is important that we continue to support our local communities as much as we can to boost local trade and to help those people who are not interested in shopping out of town or looking for services in large business parks.
Finally, I would like to say that I have nothing against grumpy old men in mothballed pinstripe suits and that I am just relaying comments made by people to me over the years. In other words, please don’t sue!
