Home Civil Society Civil Legal Aid

Civil Legal Aid

At Seraphus, we believe that good-quality legal advice should be available to everyone. That’s why, we provide legal aid services.

Legal aid At Seraphus

In 2023, we began taking on legal aid cases, marking a renewed chapter in our legal advice work. Since then, we’ve provided free legal support in complex immigration and asylum matters for people living in London. We’re proud to be contributing to this vital service even as legal aid provision has been under pressure for years.

Legal aid, a matter of justice

Legal aid is a cornerstone of access to justice in the UK. At Seraphus, we believe that good-quality legal advice should be available to everyone—regardless of immigration status or financial means. That’s why, in line with the purpose our firm was founded to fulfil, we have re-entered the legal aid space.

We see legal aid as an essential tool for delivering on our wider vision: to support those in need through expert, rights-based immigration advice, often in collaboration with charities, grassroots organisations, and community groups.

Our legal aid work is grounded in a human approach to immigration law—one that recognises that access to justice should never depend on your income, or your background.

Our Legal aid services

Our legal aid team has two lawyers working on asylum claims and asylum appeals. They also work on cases referred by charities which have been granted Exceptional Case Funding, including family and human rights-based applications. We are normally very busy with cases so we may not be able to consider new cases. However, if you would like to refer a case to us, for someone living in London, please use our contact us form. We will get back to you if we can consider your case.

Contact us

The crisis of the legal aid system

The UK’s civil legal aid system—once a safeguard for access to justice—is now in a state of deep and growing crisis. Chronic underfunding, restrictive eligibility criteria, and outdated service requirements have created legal aid deserts across the country. Over 65% of people in England and Wales now live in areas without a single legal aid provider. Nowhere is this felt more acutely than in immigration and asylum law, where access to justice can be a matter of life and liberty.

This growing gap in provision disproportionately affects the most vulnerable: people navigating a complex immigration system, often alone and in crisis, without the means to pay for legal advice.

At Seraphus, we’ve chosen to step into this gap. Through our legal aid work, we’re proud to be part of the collective effort to push back against this erosion of justice—and to make high-quality immigration advice available to those who need it most.

Read more

Partnerships

We work hand-in-hand with migrant and refugee charities across London so migrant communities don’t have to face the immigration system alone. These grassroots groups are often the first to welcome and support people navigating their situation —but they don’t always have the resources to provide ongoing legal help. That’s where we come in. Together, we connect communities with trusted legal support, helping people resolve their status and take steps toward safety, stability, and a hopeful future.

Contact us

  • The lawyer was so helpful, efficient, knowledgeable, patient and understanding. The asylum application was successful. She never gave up despite terrible delays and she was so kind working with an interpreter which is never easy. So grateful for this fantastic service.

    Anonymous