Serbia Handbook for Legal Aid Providers Final

Applications via telephone
Organizations that the Project would work with
Eneca
Fond za Mikrorazvoj
Roma Democracy Centre
Grupa 484
UNIJA - Union of IDP Associations
Minority Rights Centre
Roma Association from Bela Palanka
Initiative for Development and Cooperation
Ecumenical Humanitarian Organization
There are many instances where individuals request only basic legal information/advice,
which may be provided via telephone including calling the toll-free number of the Project.
The individual can call at any time during working hours. The procedure for receiving and
handling such requests is explained under the heading “providing legal aid via-telephone”
below.
Recording information from the legal aid applicant
The legal aid application form was created to ensure that the most important details of the
applicant/client and the case are recorded. In addition to the information requested in the
application form the interviewer should get as much detail about the case as possible. There
are many important reasons for thoroughly and accurately recording the details of the
applicant/client;
- You want to make sure that you can contact your client again easily.
- You need a detailed record of the allegations, as these will form the basis of
your cases and assessment of the legal issues.
- Gathering much detail is a great start to having an organized file.
An initial record should contain as much of the following information as possible most of
which is already highlighted in the application form, which follows;
- The contact details of the applicant/client. You will most probably need to contact
the person by telephone and in writing in the future. It is best to have all possible
avenues of contact recorded – for example, where a person has two addresses, or
two mobile telephone numbers, record both. This also includes e-mails, where
possible. If there’s no address then get one of a relative or friend.
- Name of the Applicant/Client. Both the first name and surname of the complainant
should be recorded, and where there is more than one client (for example a husband
and wife), or the complainant uses different names (a nickname or alias), record all
the names.
- Date of birth. It will make it easier to identify them, especially if you come across two
clients with the same name.
- Date of first contact. This may be the date on the letter of complaint, or when the
complainant first called you, or when the matter was referred to you by another
organisation.
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