Advice

qLegal provides free legal advice, workshops and online resources to start-up companies and entrepreneurs.

If your enquiry relates to accounting and business planning, please contact the qNomics team for free practical business advice.

How qLegal can help

qLegal offers free specialised legal guidance that covers a range of complex legal issues including:

• Intellectual property matters relating to copyright, trade marks and patents
• Data protection and GDPR compliance (website terms and conditions, privacy policies and cookies policies)
• Types of business structure and business incorporation
• Commercial agreements such as non-disclosure agreements

1:1 legal advice

Tailored legal advice is delivered by qLegal students under the supervision of qualified lawyers. If you use our services you will:

• Attend an appointment (either in person or remotely) with two qLegal students and a qualified lawyer
• Receive written advice within three weeks which has been checked by a qualified lawyer

"The qLegal student advisers were very professional and took time to interview me and understand the business and how it operates. The work that they undertook was of a very high standard and it was extremely useful in setting out the legal position of the issues."
- Sindhu Joseph, Founder and CEO of CogniCor
Read our Client Profile on CogniCor

Eligibility criteria

To be eligible to receive free legal advice, your annual turnover must be under:

• £100,000 for a profit seeking/making organisation; or
• £1,000,000 for a social enterprise or not-for-profit

If you are eligible, please complete our enquiry form and tell us what help you need.

What to expect when you submit an enquiry to qLegal

1. A preliminary call

We will email you asking you to book an appointment for a preliminary call with a member of the qLegal team. Preliminary calls generally last 15 - 20 minutes. The call is to hear more about your legal needs and circumstances so we can confirm we are able to help. No legal advice will be given during the call. If we are unable to help, we will signpost you to an alternative service provider(s).

2. Setting you up as a qLegal client

On taking you on as a client we will send you a client engagement letter which sets out what we ask of you and what you can expect from us. We will also book your appointment. You return the signed engagement letter to us, along with any documents required to help us advise on your case at least 48 hours before your appointment.

3. Attending the appointment

Appointments take place on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at either 9:45am-10:30am, or 6:15pm-7pm. Appointments may be in person (in Central London) or remotely via Microsoft Teams. You will meet the qLegal students and the supervising lawyer who will gather the information they need to be able to provide you with written legal advice. No advice will be given during the appointment but you may be asked to supply additional documents within 2 days if they are required to provide the advice you need.

4. Receiving your written advice

Within 21 days of the appointment (or the provision of the additional documents, if later) the qLegal students will send you the letter of advice, which has been checked by a qualified lawyer.