In the event of a legal problem, it may be useful or even necessary, to consult a lawyer. However, a consultation is often chargeable. However, there are different possibilities to benefit from the services of a lawyer for free. In this context, a litigant will be able to receive legal advice in several legal areas, be informed of their rights, be accompanied in their legal procedures and be advised on an amicable resolution of their dispute.
Legal hotlines
These are meeting points where legal professionals such as lawyers are present to advise and inform a litigant free of charge. A legal permanence can be set up in a court, a town hall, in a bar…
This is different options :
As with any consultation with a lawyer, the latter is required to respect professional secrecy: thus, each consultation in a legal office will be confidential. It will also be anonymous. The lawyers participating in these legal services can be generalists or specialists in an area of law.
The Houses of Justice and Law
The Code of judicial organization provides that houses of justice and law may be established, placed under the authority of the president of the judicial court and of the public prosecutor at this court, in whose jurisdiction they are located. They ensure a local judicial presence and contribute to the prevention of delinquency, assistance to victims and access to the law. Alternative measures of penal treatment and actions tending to the amicable resolution of disputes can be exercised there.
Legal aid
In the context of a dispute, it is possible that the litigant does not have sufficient financial resources to pay for his legal proceedings. Subject to certain criteria, he could request the benefit of legal aid. This is a system by which the State fully or partially covers the legal costs of the litigant. The beneficiary of legal aid will then have the possibility of choosing a lawyer to defend his interests.
The Code of Criminal Procedure, a lawyer can be appointed ex officio, in certain situations. It should be noted that a court-appointed lawyer does not offer his services free of charge. The litigant must remunerate him for his service. As a result, legal aid makes it possible to pay the fees of a lawyer, totally or partially, depending on the assistance that has been granted to the litigant.