JustRight Scotland is open and working hard to support our client groups across Scotland. Indeed, for those we represent it is more important that ever that our service is available and accessible at this challenging time. Following government guidance, we have suspended face-to-face appointments but, with thanks to our amazing staff and funders, we continue to offer our full service to existing clients, new clients, and partners, through videocall, phone, and email.
How to Contact Us
If you are an existing client and you want to speak to your solicitor, they can be contacted in the usual way by their email or their direct dial phone number. You can also call us on 0141 406 5350 and leave a message and we will get back to you.
If you want to refer someone to our service, please complete the referral form on our website. You can also contact us on info@justrightscotland.org.uk.
If you are an organisation or professional looking for second-tier advice, you can call us on 0141 406 5350 and leave a message or contact us on info@justrightscotland.org.uk.
Scottish Refugee & Migrant Centre
Our Scottish Refugee & Migrant Centre (SRMC) represents, amongst others, migrant children and young people, migrant women affected by violence, and Refugees seeking advice on family reunion. The impact of COVID-19 is particularly acute for our SRMC clients in accessing protection, their rights and entitlements. Barriers include language, access to phones and internet, and physical challenges in support providers providing assistance.
Due to Covid-19, the Home Office has also made important changes to how they work, with asylum interviews suspended and other face-to-face procedures suspended or changed. Visa application centres in the UK and abroad have also been suspended; impacting those seeking to extend their leave to remain or enter the UK. We continue to stay up-to-date with these changes and are ensuring clients are kept informed on how these changes may affect them. Helpful updates can be found on the Free Movement website.
Scottish Anti-Trafficking & Exploitation Centre
Our Scottish Anti-Trafficking and Exploitation Centre (SATEC) is the only specialist legal project in Scotland that provides direct legal advice and representation to adult and child survivors of trafficking and exploitation regardless of nationality, gender, type of exploitation and geographical location.
Trafficking and exploitation will continue in Scotland regardless of the COVID-19 related measures in place. Traffickers and organised crime rings are actually more likely to exploit the current situation for their own ends, and those who were being exploited in “legitimate” industries may now be used in hidden, “non-legitimate” industries. It is less likely that survivors will be able to leave their traffickers.
This means that we and our partner organisations need to make ourselves visible, accessible and available to provide support and assistance. We are still taking new clients and we are continuing to operate our outreach service JustRight@TARA where we provide free legal information and advice to TARA Service users, and can be accessed internally through TARA.
Scottish Women’s Rights Centre
In the Scottish Women’s Rights Centre (SWRC) we work with women who have been affected by gender based violence. The aim of the SWRC is to improve survivors’ access to justice and experience of the legal processes they may require to come in contact with. The SWRC is a collaboration with our partners Rape Crisis Scotland and the University of Strathclyde Law Clinic. It has its own dedicated website here.
It has been widely reported that domestic abuse has seen a shocking rise since the ‘lockdown’ measures were put in place. Both the UK and Scottish governments have pledged emergency funding support to charities working to support survivors. Moreover, due to Covid-19, important changes are being made to the way the Scottish Courts and Tribunals hears cases, with some courts and tribunals temporarily closing, urgent cases prioritised, and remote hearings arranged wherever possible. We continue to stay up-to-date with these changes and are keeping all relevant parties informed of how this may affect them. More information on this can be found here.
Our legal team are working hard and are available to provide legal advice and information to women who have experienced gender based violence. As noted above, we are no longer doing face to face appointments but instead we are offering video or telephone appointments where the woman can provide a safe and private place to take the appointment. Furthermore:
- Our free, confidential legal helplines remain open;
- Our free, confidential legal surgeries are still open by appointment
- We have set up a temporary ‘Urgent Legal Advice’ surgery each Tuesday, from 10am-2pm, which can be accessed, by appointment, through the SWRC directly.
- We are producing legal information focused on the needs and rights of women during the pandemic and this information can be accessed here.
We are also working on other ways for our client groups to get in touch with us during this difficult time so please watch this space.
