Students’ Legal Aid Office
About Students’ Legal Aid Office
The SLAO is a practical teaching activity in which students of Law faculty of UP in Olomouc under the guidance of teachers and practising lawyers solve the real cases of clients who turn to the SLAO with a request to analyse their situation. The SLAO is intended primarily for those who cannot afford the services of a lawyer from a financial point of view. Students at the Faculty of Law of Palacký University within the framework of SLAO based on the experience they directly gain have the opportunity to develop professional skills, understanding the ethical aspects of the legal profession and apply knowledge in the context of real cases. They have the opportunity to get involved in solving a real case and work on it from the beginning to the end. They are in direct contact with the client, which is an irreplaceable experience for their future professional life.
The Office focuses on a wide range of legal issues, most often in the field of civil law, family law, executions and insolvencies. Supervisors who oversee the elaboration of a particular piece of legal advice are always experts in the field of law to which the particular case belongs.
The SLAO is further internally divided into several sections:
- public law,
- consumer law
- civil law
- inheritance law
- labour law
- insolvency and debt law
Information for Students
There is a selection procedure for the SLAO. Registration of students takes place via a form application, which is available on the electronic bulletin board in the winter and summer semesters, usually one month before the beginning of the semester. In addition to their success in the selection process, participation in a field orientation workshop is also a condition for admission, which takes place the weekend before the beginning of the semester or in the first week of the semester.
Information for Clients
How does it work?
The SLAO always accepts new cases several weeks a semester. The introductory interview with the client is conducted by the students themselves. At the beginning, they explain to the client how the SLAO works and what they may expect from it. They will also find out what problem the client is experiencing and whether this is a case that the SLAO is able to deal with. Subsequently, they will receive contact details and detailed information about the case from the client. They record all information in the file and take over the necessary documents from the client. The file is then submitted to the SLAO office. Then, it is assigned to a specific pair of students who work under the supervision of their supervisor. After the case is assigned to specific students, they contact the client by phone and agree with them on the next steps and the date of any further meeting, depending on the type and complexity of the case.
Students are supervised by supervisors throughout the whole case. They discuss the case with students, see if their legal analysis is going in the right direction and alert them to possible mistakes or professional sources where they could look for a solution. Before giving the written legal advice to the client, it shall always be approved by the supervisor. The handover of legal advice to the client takes place in person. In exceptional circumstances and upon appointment, students may send legal advice by post or electronically. The purpose of the legal advice is to provide a legal analysis of the case and to outline all possible ways of resolving it, including the possible risks. However, the choice of the solution and its implementation is up to the client. Students may prepare documents for submission, a letter or contract, but they cannot act on behalf of clients, so the client has to take any steps in the case himself/herself.
Please consult as well the Rules of the Provision of Legal Aid (available in Czech only).
Contact us
E-mail: studentskapravniporadna@upol.cz
Phone number: +420 585 637 616
Address
Students’ Legal Aid Office
Palacky University, Faculty of Law
tř. 17. listopadu 8
Olomouc 771 11
(Building B, first floor, to the left of the reception, door no. 1.28)
Opening hours: Monday – Thursday 8am – 4 pm
You may reach our office by trams no. 1, 5 or 7, the office is located near Envelopa stop.
They wrote about us
If you want to know more about the functioning of the SLAO, you may watch the videos, listen to the audio recordings or read the articles from the links below.
Videos
- Promo video of the Centre for Clinical Legal Education
- Czech Television: Law students provide counselling services to people in Olomouc for free
Radio
- Czech Radio - Olomouc: The Student Legal Counselling Centre reopens and helps for free
- Czech Radio - Olomouc: The Student Legal Counselling Centre prepares a new project
- Czech judiciary: Interview for the Czech judiciary
- Czech Radio - Olomouc: Can't afford a lawyer? The Student Legal Counselling Centre offers assistance
Articles
- najpravo.sk: Clinical Legal Education at the Faculty of Law of Comenius University in Bratislava
- iDnes.cz: Law students provide counselling services to people instead of a lawyer, they have dozens of cases
- Deník.cz: Free legal counselling? Olomouc students offer it.
- Pres.UPmedia.cz: Where can I go if I don't know law
- iRozhlas: Olomouc law students provide counselling to poor people despite the holidays for free
- Jiné Právo: Philippic for law clinics
- Lidovky.cz: Law students advise patients for free