Finding a solicitor who speaks Turkish, Spanish, Chinese, Polish, Portuguese or Romanian
To find a solicitor who speaks Turkish, Spanish, Chinese, Polish, Portuguese or Romanian, search with the Law Society Find a Solicitor service. Then ask each firm directly whether its staff speak your language. The same steps work for all six languages, and the SRA can also help if you find English difficult.
The short answer
Start with the Law Society Find a Solicitor service, because it lets you search for legal professionals by several details. However, the list of those details does not mention language, so do not rely on a language filter. Instead, ask each firm directly whether the person who would do your work speaks your language.
For example, when you look for a Turkish solicitor London firms can list, a direct question is what tells you who works in Turkish. A short message or call settles the point, and the same approach suits every language on this page.
Searching the Law Society service
The Law Society Find a Solicitor service searches its database of legal professionals. You can search by organisation or by person, using a name or an SRA ID. You can also search by location, area of practice and legal issue. As a result, you can narrow the results to London and to the kind of legal work you need.
Because language is not in that list, we cannot say the service filters by it. Treat language as a question for the firm instead. Our practice areas page can help you decide which area of practice fits your problem.
Checking the firm is regulated
Once you have a firm in mind, check it on the SRA Solicitors Register. The register lets you look up the records of the solicitors and law firms that the SRA regulates. It shows whether someone is a solicitor and where they work, and whether a firm is regulated by the SRA.
This matters because only people the SRA approves can call themselves solicitors. Our guide on checking that a solicitor is regulated gives more detail, and our guide to what a solicitor does explains the role itself.
Help in your language from the SRA
The SRA says that if you find it difficult to communicate in English, it can help. That help can include support by telephone, translating letters and documents, and providing an interpreter for meetings and calls.
The SRA also publishes its leaflet ‘Thinking of using legal services? What to expect’ in 10 community languages. They are Welsh, French, Polish, Punjabi, Bengali, Gujarati, Cantonese, Urdu, Pashto and Somali. Therefore, check that list for your own language, and do not assume the leaflet exists in a language it does not name.
The SRA says it can also help with Easy Read, Braille or British Sign Language formats. Its using-a-solicitor page links to a ‘Difficulties with English?’ page and to the Legal Choices website, which has key facts about other lawyers and common legal problems.
Turkish, Spanish, Chinese, Polish, Portuguese and Romanian
The same steps apply to Turkish, Spanish, Chinese, Polish, Portuguese and Romanian. Search the Law Society service by location, area of practice and legal issue. Then ask each firm whether the person doing your work speaks your language, and check the firm on the Solicitors Register. If you find English difficult, remember that the SRA can help with translating documents and with interpreters. Since every language follows the same process, you do not need a different method for each one. We name no firm, person or organisation for any language, because the question you put to each firm is the real test.
In police custody
In police custody, GOV.UK says you can ask for the written notice of your rights in your language. You can also ask for an interpreter to explain the notice. Therefore, if you need either, say so clearly, because the notice is there for you to use.
Prices and services
The SRA says you can contact law firms directly to discuss prices and services. That is useful because you can raise your language in the same conversation. Firms with a website must publish price and service information there for certain services.
If a firm has no website, you can ask it for the information. As a result, a missing website is no reason to stop looking, since you can still ask the firm directly about price and language together.
If something goes wrong
The SRA says that in all cases you can complain to the SRA or the Legal Ombudsman about a legal services provider. Keep notes of what you were told and when, because clear notes make any complaint easier to explain. You may prefer to raise the problem with the firm directly, although you can complain whichever route you choose.
Questions to ask the firm
Put these questions to any firm before you agree to work with it.
- Does the person who will do the work speak my language?
- Can the firm explain my documents in my language?
- Is an interpreter available for meetings and calls?
- What would an interpreter cost, and is it included in the price?
Note the answers in writing, because you can then compare what each firm said. Since you may speak to several firms, use the same questions each time, so that the answers line up. Before you instruct anyone, follow our guide to check a solicitor.