Member Article

Teesside University Law Clinic produces unique new apps to help cut costs of legal cases

Teesside University’s Law Clinic has developed two unique apps to help people negotiate complex legal processes saving time and costs.

The clinic has developed a free app which guides litigants through the necessary procedures in order to make a claim at the Small Claims Court.

Another app, which costs £2.99, has been designed for landlords and takes them through the process of ending a tenancy.

The Law Clinic, which offers free advice and representation to the public with the help of Teesside University’s academics, external lawyers and students, now hopes to develop further apps on a wider range of legal issues.

The apps have been designed as a series of ‘walk-through’ guides.

At each stage of the legal process, the user is asked questions and depending upon their answers is either given an explanation of the procedure or directed to websites which can help them.

Andrew Perriman, Senior Lecturer in Law, who runs Teesside Law Clinic, said the apps were unique and would help people who were struggling with the processes of bringing claims or ending tenancies correctly.

He said: “For people who are unfamiliar with the legal system, even something relatively straightforward like a small claim can be extremely complex.

“However, hiring a lawyer can be difficult and counter-productive depending upon the value of the claim.

“Evicting a tenant can be a very lengthy process and if a landlord goes wrong it could add months to the proceedings.

“Hopefully these apps should make the process a little more understandable.”

The small claims app deals with topics such as completing the relevant documentation, the hearing, compiling bundles and how to address the officers of the court.

There is also a useful interest calculator to work out exactly how much money is owed.

The landlord app guides users through how to process an eviction under Section 8 or Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988, as well as more complex issues such as accelerated possession proceedings.

If the app is unable to provide the necessary advice to the users, it provides links to solicitors’ firms across the country that may be able to help. However they may charge for their services.

Andrew added: “A lot of pro bono funding has been slashed and, coupled with the cuts to legal aid, there is even less money out there for us to do our work and for people to bring claims.

“With these apps we are giving the people the opportunity to be able to bring claims and end tenancies much more cost effectively and to provide people with general information which may assist them.

“There is also an added to benefit to us, as the income that we generate through advertising can be ploughed back into the pro bono work that we do.”

The apps have been designed with the help of Pixelbrawl, a software development company founded by Teesside University graduates Simon Launder, James Whitemore and Matthew Daroczy and supported by the university’s DigitalCity Innovation project.

Simon said: “We’ve really enjoyed working on these apps and we’re really pleased with the result.

“The biggest challenge was making them easy for people to use with an intuitive design as we didn’t want to make them too complicated.”

Law firms can also advertise on the apps for claims that exceed £10,000 or where users require further assistance with landlord claims.

Advertising revenue from the apps is used to help fund the current services at Teesside Law Clinic and develop further assistance to members of the public.

The small claims and landlord app are both available on iOS and Android platforms. Search for them in your app store by typing ‘TLC small claims’ or ‘TLC landlord’.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Teesside University .