This service is an alternative way to contact us for legal information/initial advice if you cannot call our helpline or make a legal surgery appointment for safety reasons.

There will be no trace of you having made contact with us in this way and we will work with you to find the best way to communicate.

Simply follow these steps:

1. Make sure you read the 'Keeping Safe' section below
2. Use the form at the bottom of this page to send us a message about your situation and how best to contact you
3. Once we receive your message, we will respond within 5 working days to make arrangements to get information/initial advice to you.
4. We will contact you during our usual working hours (Monday, Wednesday and Friday 9am - 5pm, Tuesday and Thursday 9am - 8pm). However, if it would only be safe for us to contact you outwith these hours, please tell us and we will try to accommodate this if possible.
5. For your safety, we will contact you once and if we don’t hear back from you, please contact us again if you would still like our help.

Your safety is very important to us, so here are some things to consider before sending a form:

• This service is for non-urgent legal advice. If you feel you or others are in immediate danger, call the Police on 999
• Tell us the safest way to contact you during this time
• Make sure you are the only person who can access the email address/phone number you are giving us or that it belongs to a person you trust (such as a friend or family member)
• If it helps, create a new email address so we can contact you. Make sure no one else can access it, for example through your mobile phone or computer.
• Consider deleting any emails between us (including those in your junk folder and sent items) and remove our number from your call history if we call you.

Women’s Aid has some tips on covering your tracks online.

This will depend on the issues you are dealing with.

• If the case is too complex, we may need to talk to you over the phone or find an alternative way to ask more information from you so we can give you initial advice or information. We can work with you to find a safe way to do this.
• If your case falls outside our expertise or there is another reason that we are unable to support you, we will do our best to refer you to someone who might be able to help.
• If your case is urgent, and you need advice sooner, try to call our helpline (if you are able to take make the call in a safe and private place) to request an urgent legal appointment. This appointment will take place by video call or phone, but only if it would be safe to do so. You can also look for a solicitor on the Law Society of Scotland’s database here.

It is not possible to give full or in-depth legal advice by email or text, but where we can we will give you initial advice and we will try to give you as much information as possible. You can also find useful information on our COVID-19 section and in our legal guides.