Engaging External Legal Advice

The Legal Services Department is responsible for managing all requests for external legal advice, and therefore you must contact Legal Services in the first instance for legal advice on any matter. Staff, unless expressly agreed otherwise, are not permitted to seek external legal advice directly and the University will not pay for legal advice which is not obtained via Legal Services.
If you require legal assistance, please contact Legal Services by completing a Legal Services Request form.

The decision to engage external legal services will be made by the Legal Services Department. In making such a decision, we will discuss the nature of the matter with you fully and, if external advice is required, agree the scope of the legal services to be procured and the details of payment.

Usually, Legal Services will manage the instructions to, and correspondence with external lawyers when external advice is required. However, it may be agreed that it is more appropriate for you to deal directly with the external solicitors. In such instances, Legal Services will remain involved so that we can ensure that costs are kept under control and that the advice received is in accordance with your needs, and to provide any additional support where required.

Legal Services will be provided with and will retain copies of the advice given.