About Us

diyLAW (formerly Help4LiPs) provides litigants in person with information via its website. A litigant in person (LiP) is an individual, company or organisation that is not represented in court by a solicitor or barrister. Help4LiPs (H4L) was conceived of by a couple of Litigants in Person over lunch and then ratified as a concept in an informal meeting at The Royal Courts of Justice (RCJ) with Directors of the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB), Personal Support Unit (PSU) and High Court. Since that time, with early seed money from the London Legal Trust and a few private individuals and continuous loans from the co-founders Brad Meyer and Jeff Lampert, H4L has been attracting, capturing, simplifying and re-presenting (via the web) some of the expert knowledge of legal professionals. In 2017, Help4LiPs has become diyLAW.

diyLAW provides litigants in person with information about legal procedures exclusively through its website. Please note diyLAW only provides information not legal advice.

What others have said about us:

During the past 5 years the Law Centre has worked closely with diyLAW. During this time, they have placed several pro-bono volunteers with us. Volunteers are required to carry out 50 hours pro-bono work assisting our solicitors with clients and casework in areas of Social Welfare Law.

The majority of the pro-bono volunteers assist our Asylum/Immigration Senior Solicitor with her work. Tasks include carrying out country research for Asylum claims, drafting detailed chronological background information on clients, research on country experts for preparation of reports, preparing court bundles and indexes and general admin tasks such as the photocopying and scanning of client documents.

We have always found the attitude and work ethic of the diyLAW pro-bono volunteers to be professional, of high standard and all are very capable of carrying out the various tasks assigned to them. Their assistance helps free up valuable time for our solicitors to spend more time on urgent casework.

Without the pro-bono volunteers the Law Centre would struggle to meet the demands for our service, especially at a time when cutbacks to Legal Aid and funding in the charity advice sector have led to a reduction in staffing.

We are thankful for the help and assistance provided by diyLAW. We hope to continue with the pro-bono placements from them in the future, thus enabling us to continue to reach out and assist some of the most vulnerable individuals in the community of Brent.

Alison Plaku

Office & Volunteer Manager

Brent Community Law Centre