Lawyers Online

Lawyers Online, online legal advice in the United Kingdom

Lawyers Online is a law firm regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) that operates as an intermediary: it connects clients with specialist solicitors in different branches of law across the United Kingdom. The firm presents itself as a national organisation offering specialist advice in all areas of law and claims to have answered over 200,000 legal enquiries, with access to more than 2,000 solicitors.

The service is built around an online consultation: the user submits their question through a form and receives a response from a specialist team, with an indicated average response time of 20 minutes during normal office hours. The company also handles free telephone enquiries and offers personalised quotes for mortgage-related legal needs.

Practice areas

The firm covers a broad spectrum of matters, organised into several blocks:

• Business: selling a business, company fraud, dispute resolution, commercial contracts, shareholder agreements and business leases.
• Employment: age discrimination, contracts, race discrimination, redundancy, sex discrimination, unfair dismissal, harassment and settlement agreements.
• Wills and probate: estate administration, inheritance tax and planning, making a will, notarial services for wills and probate, powers of attorney, inheritance disputes and trusts.
• Family: divorce, children and issues of custody and contact, civil partnerships, divorce and relationship breakdowns, unmarried couples separating, domestic violence, international family law, money and property, pre-marital agreements, cohabitation agreements and separation agreements.
• Property: conveyancing, buying at auction, contract disputes, enfranchisements, homelessness, household disputes, investment property, buy-to-let property, leasehold properties, neighbour disputes, planning law, repossession proceedings, remortgaging, tenancy agreements, transfer of title and unlawful eviction.
• Independent legal advice (ILA): directors' personal guarantees, JBSP (Joint Borrower Sole Proprietor) loans, bridging loans and development funding, occupiers consent forms, gifted deposit declarations, second charge mortgages, commercial guarantees and debentures, and transfer of equity.
• Criminal: actions against the police, arrest and prosecution, car offences and custody.
• Internet: domain law, website law, e-commerce law, social media law, social network law and online defamation.

Independent legal advice for mortgages

A prominent part of the activity focuses on independent legal advice (ILA) required in certain mortgage transactions. The firm connects clients with solicitors who explain the risks and obligations associated with products such as personal guarantees, JBSP loans, bridging loans, second charge mortgages, equity release, transfer of equity or gifted deposit declarations. It also offers guidance on occupiers consent forms and commercial guarantees, and works with lenders, intermediaries and brokers.

The site states that independent legal advice for mortgages and other related matters starts at £150 plus VAT, with fixed fees applicable to each type of service. The company presents itself as a national organisation that can handle these needs from any location.

Online consultation and customer service

The consultation service allows users to submit a legal question through a form providing contact details, county, postcode and subject area. The firm states that all enquiries are treated in the strictest confidence and that telephone calls are free of charge. It also offers the possibility of requesting personalised quotes for mortgage-related legal needs.

Corporate details and regulation

Lawyers Online is a trading name of Houghton Legal LLP, with company number OC454072. The firm is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) with number 8015303. The site states that the business dates back to 1998 and that copyright covers 2003 to 2026.