Highland and Islands

Visiting our offices and contacting your solicitor

Please see our update for full details on how we are delivering our services.

Do you live in Highland, Moray, Western Isles, Orkney or Shetland? Are you eligible for legal aid? Do you have a legal problem that falls within one of our case types?

If you have answered yes to these questions, we may be able to help you. Contact us to discuss your legal issue and we will assess if we are able to take your case.

Areas of work

Contact CLAO Highland and Islands to find out if we can help you with cases relating to:

  • Housing and Homelessness
  • Some types of debt, money and welfare benefits issues where the input of our solicitor casework services can be most effective
  • Child Protection and children’s hearings
  • Some types of family law – those that involve an element of public law. We can help identify that
  • Mental health, Adults with Incapacity and Vulnerable Adult and Adult Protection cases.

Highland and Islands

2 Castle Wynd Inverness IV2 3EB IN113

Highland and Islands

2 Castle Wynd Inverness IV2 3EB IN113

Office opening hours

Monday to Friday 09.00-17.00

Office accessibility

Our office is located at 2 Castle Wynd, Inverness city centre. It is situated on the upper level directly above Bella Pasta on Bridge Street.

Stairs
There is a staircase to the immediate left of Bella Pasta which gives access to the office entrance.

Alternatively, stair-free access is via Castle Wynd. This is a short way from Bridge Street.

The office is accessible and on one level.

If you have mobility issues please inform our office when speaking to a member of staff.

See more information on accessibility – making it easier to access our services

Getting here

Information if you are getting to CLAO Highland and Islands by bus, train, car and bike.

Open in Google Maps to generate directions for various modes of travel.

Bus

By bus
Local buses are operated by Stagecoach and services 2, 3, 4, 5, 5A, 8, 107, 107A and 109B stop at Queensgate, Inverness, which is around a five minute walk from our office.

Train

By train
Inverness train station is around a 10 minute walk from our office.

Car

By car
There is on street public disabled parking directly outside our office. We also have some limited private parking spaces available which are slightly further away from the office and can be booked in advance by contacting the office. Priority will be given to people who would otherwise be unable to access appointments.

Alternatively there is chargeable on-street parking on certain side streets, for example Church Street or Union Street. The closest carparks to the office are the Eastgate Mall, TK Maxx Carpark and The Rose Street Multi-Storey Carpark.

Bike

By bike
There are bike racks located in the city centre, a short walk from the office.

When you arrive

A member of staff will greet you on arrival at your pre-arranged appointment time.

Please note that we cannot currently admit visitors who do not have a pre-arranged appointment.

For further details about the special arrangements we have put in place for Covid-19 please see this update.

During your visit

Our office has accessible meeting rooms and accessible toilets.

Wheelchair users
Access to the reception area of our office is through double doors. We have an accessible toilet and access to most meeting rooms is through doors with a minimum of 800mm width.
Guide dogs
Assistance dogs are welcome in our office. Please let us know in advance if you would like us to make any special arrangements to help accommodate them. We will have a bowl of water available for them.
Hearing Loops
Portable induction loops are available from Reception on request. Hearing aid users must turn their hearing aid to the “T” position to use the induction loops.

We can arrange to book British Sign Language interpreters and interpreters who speak languages other than English, if we know you require this.

If you need to bring a support worker or friend to the meeting with you, please let us know.

If you do not have childcare to allow you to attend an appointment please make us aware of this, so that we can agree the best way to meet. We do not have childcare facilities on site.
Support
Please let us know in advance of any requirements that you have or support you need to visit our office or communicate with us. This will help us to ensure that a suitable room and any additional services are booked.

How do I know if I can use the CLAO Highland and Islands service?

If you answer yes to any of the following questions, you can contact CLAO Highland and Islands for help:

  • I live in Highland, Moray, Western Isles, Orkney or Shetland
  • I have a civil legal problem (a legal problem that is not to do with the criminal law)
  • I have been told I need a lawyer or I am unsure whether or not I need a lawyer

How do I contact CLAO Highland and Islands?

Members of the public can use telephone or email to contact us.

Please note that CLAO Highland and Islands does not offer a drop in service. You will not be able to speak to a solicitor if you come to the office without contacting us beforehand to arrange an appointment.

Please contact us by phone or email and we can assess what we can do to assist you.

Information about Appointments with a CLAO Highland and Islands Solicitor

If we have advised you that we are considering taking on your case you might be offered an appointment with one of the CLAO solicitors.  If you are given an appointment at our office, please let us know if you have any mobility problems. We try to be flexible about appointments so if you have any problems attending an appointment you can phone us as soon as possible to try and arrange an alternative. If you fail to attend an appointment without good reason, or rearrange several times without good reason, then we may not be able to assist you any further.

If you are offered an ‘emergency’ appointment it will be because your legal issue needs urgent action. If you miss an emergency appointment, that may mean that it is then too late to do the legal work needed to resolve your problem and a new appointment may not be possible.

You should have any legal paperwork which relates to your case available for the appointment. When coming to a first appointment, you should also provide a form of photographic ID, such as a driving licence or passport and proof of your address (for example, bank statement, benefit award letter or utility bill dated within the last three months).

The rules of legal aid mean that we have to check your financial position at the first meeting. You must provide confirmation of any income and capital including any savings or investments. It is important that you provide the financial information as we may not be able to do any work for you until we have seen this. If you are not sure what is needed you can call the office first to check.