Hodge Jones & Allen To Work Alongside University Of East London’s Free Legal Advice Centre

• The UEL Legal Advice Centre can be contacted at legaladvicecentre@uel.ac.uk
• Additionally, the centre is open Monday-Thursday for appointments and walk-ins on Wednesday, 12-2pm

Hodge Jones & Allen are volunteering alongside law students at the University’s busy Legal Advice Centre. Established over 10 years ago, the UEL centre was relaunched in 2021 to provide free legal help to people in London and farther afield.

Daniel Denton, Partner at Hodge Jones & Allen and a specialist in personal injury law, will work with law students who volunteer to deal with enquiries, via a Zoom/teams call, to provide a fast response service and an opportunity for callers to speak directly to a highly experienced personal injury solicitor.

UEL’s service is provided by law students, supervised by the Clinic’s Director and specialist practising solicitors.

Saadiya Ahmad, Director of the Legal Advice Centre and Director of Careers and Enterprise for the Royal Docks School of Business and Law, who is a practising Solicitor with over 25 years of experience in Human Rights and Criminal Law, said:

“We are delighted to be partnering with Hodge Jones & Allen who have a long history of providing legal services, both in London and nationwide. I know our law students will gain so much from working alongside Daniel and other specialist solicitors as they experience real-life situations. An essential step to ensure they are career ready as part of the University’s Vision 2028 to be the number one careers-focused university in the country.”

Mehwish Farhan, Student Volunteer of the Legal Advice Centre, added:

“I have been regularly attending client sessions at the Legal Advice Centre as a student volunteer for the last two years. This volunteering is ensuring I’m career ready by making me more confident, empathetic, and a brilliant team player. We work as a team to research the matter and draft advice letters for clients who come from all walks of life and with all sorts of issues. It gives me great honour to assist those in genuine need of help as most of our clients do not qualify for legal aid and cannot afford hefty legal bills.

Legal Advice Centre has embraced my abilities by providing me with the opportunity to work as a student intern and now as their legal assistant. It is one of the many opportunities that the students get while volunteering at our LAC.”

Daniel Denton has represented personal injury claimants for over 20 years and has built a wealth of experience in handling cases including where clients have suffered injuries from a road traffic crash, an accident at work, or in a public place. Sometimes injuries sustained can be life-changing and Daniel is skilled at arranging effective rehabilitation treatments and cares to get people’s lives back on track.

Daniel Denton, Partner & Personal Injury solicitor at Hodge Jones & Allen:

“I’m delighted that we can actively support the University of East London students while helping people who may wish to pursue a personal injury claim. It is important to me that everyone has an accessible route to understand their rights and gain justice. We have already been able to help callers to the Centre which is fantastic, and I am enjoying the opportunity to work alongside law students who are committed to helping people understand their legal rights and what courses of action are open to them.”

In addition to offering legal advice and the options available to them to resolve legal problems, the UEL team also act as a referral agency to other organisations that may assist without charge. They are not able to undertake any representation of clients’ cases in courts or tribunals or conduct any litigation.

Priority is given to matters which do not qualify for legal aid or where clients cannot afford a solicitor.