Your Legal Directory listing: common questions

These answers say only what we have decided so far. Where something is still being decided, the answer says so. Last checked on 6 October 2026.

About the Legal Directory

What is the Legal Directory?

It will list solicitors and law firms who act for survivors of abuse. It is being designed, and no solicitors are listed yet. See the Legal Directory.

It lists solicitors and law firms who act for survivors of abuse. It shows only firms that our staff have checked and approved. Open the Legal Directory.

Who is the directory for?

Survivors of abuse who are looking for legal help.

How do we get listed?

A listing is part of solicitor membership, which is not open yet. Read how applying will work and our questions about solicitor membership.

Apply online: apply to join the Legal Directory. Our staff check every application by hand. Once your application is approved, you set your own password, sign in and complete your listing. Staff review the listing before it goes live. Read our questions about solicitor membership.

What your listing shows

What does a listing show?

Each listing will show your firm’s name and its own contact details: your website, phone number and email address. It will also show where you work and the kinds of claim you handle. People will contact you directly.

Your listing shows the public details you complete and staff approve, including at least one region and one type of claim. Each card gives your firm’s own website, phone number and email address, and people contact you directly. There is no separate profile page for a firm.

Every firm we accept has been checked by hand, so its card says “Verified firm”.

Which categories can we appear in?

The Legal Directory will use 13 categories in three groups: type of claim, type of abuse, and where it happened. Region or nation will be an extra filter.

For now, when you complete your listing, you choose at least one type of claim and at least one region, and staff review them with the rest of your listing before it goes live. The Legal Directory will move to 13 categories in three groups: type of claim, type of abuse, and where it happened. Region or nation will be an extra filter.

• Type of claim: Civil claims for compensation, Criminal injuries compensation (CICA), Redress schemes.
• Type of abuse: Abuse in childhood, Sexual abuse, Physical and emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Online abuse.
• Where it happened: Abuse in care, Abuse at school, Abuse in a religious setting, Abuse in sport, Abuse in the armed forces.

Firms will choose their own categories when they apply or update their listing, and we will check them before they go live. How many categories a firm may have, and how we check that a firm does each kind of work, are still being decided.

Can we write our own listing?

Yes. Once your application is approved, you will sign in and complete your listing yourself. Staff will review it before it goes live.

Yes. You complete your listing yourself when you sign in. Staff review it before it goes live, and they review later changes too.

Does a listing say our work is good?

No. A listing is not a quality rating, and we don’t vouch for any firm’s work.

What order are firms shown in?

In the design so far, firms are shown in alphabetical order, and no firm can pay for a higher place.

Alphabetical order. No firm can pay for a higher place: there is no paid ranking.

How survivors reach you

How will survivors reach us?

Directly, using your own contact details. We never ask for a survivor’s story.

Directly. Your card links to your own website, phone number and email address. We never ask for a survivor’s story.

Will contact come through Abuse Support Network?

No. Survivors contact the firm themselves. We never ask for anyone’s story, and we don’t pass anyone’s details to anyone.

Do firms pay you for cases?

No. Firms never pay us for cases, and we don’t promise anyone referrals, enquiries or cases.

What do you tell survivors about choosing a solicitor?

We don’t tell survivors who to choose. That is their decision. They contact a member themselves, if and when they want to.

Our page Questions to ask a solicitor is a list a survivor can take with them when they first speak to a firm.

Will you tell us how many people looked at our listing?

Yes. Once solicitor membership opens, your firm portal will show delayed, combined figures on how often your listing was seen. They will never identify any visitor, and they are not a count of enquiries.

Yes. Your firm portal shows delayed, combined figures on how often your card was seen and how often its contact links were used. They never identify any visitor, and they are not a count of enquiries: a click on a contact link doesn’t mean anyone got in touch.

Keeping your listing right

How often is our listing checked?

We go through our checks again every year.

Listed firms will also be asked to confirm each year that their listing is still accurate.

You also confirm each year, when you sign in to your firm portal, that your listing is still accurate.

Something on our listing has changed. What should we do?

You won’t need to wait for the yearly check. Once you are listed, you will sign in and update your listing yourself. Staff will review each change before it goes live, and your last approved listing will stay live meanwhile.

You don’t need to wait for the yearly check. Sign in and update your listing. Staff review the change before it goes live, and your last approved listing stays live meanwhile.

What happens to our listing if we no longer meet the checklist?

We tell you and give you a short time to put it right. If you don’t, your listing comes down until you do. How long you have is being decided.

Can we take our listing down?

Yes. A listed firm will be able to withdraw in its firm portal, which removes its listing at once.

Yes. Withdrawing in your firm portal removes your listing at once. A withdrawn firm can’t rejoin by itself: our staff check the firm and restore it.

What happens if someone reports a problem with our listing?

If we learn that a detail on a listing is wrong or out of date, we check it again and correct it.

The Legal Directory has no public button for reporting a listing. If we learn that a detail on your listing is wrong or out of date, we check it again and correct it.

If someone is worried about how a firm has treated them or done its work, the right place to take it is the firm’s own complaints procedure and its regulator or complaints body. They can look into it and act on it. We can’t. In England and Wales, complain to the firm first; the Legal Ombudsman can then look at the service, and serious misconduct can be reported to the SRA. In Scotland, the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission deals with complaints about lawyers. In Northern Ireland, the Solicitors Complaints Committee deals with the service a solicitor provided, and the Law Society of Northern Ireland with professional conduct.

What we keep about your firm

What do you keep about us?

For each check we note what we checked, the public source we used, the date, and who did the check. We don’t keep copies of members’ documents.

We also keep what a firm sends us when it applies and when it completes its listing. How long we keep it is being decided. Read our Privacy page.