Because the right to instruct a barrister directly is new, it is likely that qualified CIH members will not have the internal authority to use it. Even though they may well be the budget holder, or part of the budget-holding team, either they will hitherto have been required to instruct an in-house or nominated external solicitor, or - if no one is specified - it may well still be the case that their rights to get legal advice are defined in terms only of a right to instruct a solicitor.

Whether or not CIH members enjoying the BarDIRECT right to instruct a barrister, and wishing to do so by means of HousingLawDirect, can do so is essentially a matter for them and their employers: after all, the right is only exercisable on behalf of an employer, it is the employer who will have to pay, and it is therefore ultimately the employer’s decision - not that of the CIH member, nor that of other legal advisers.

Arden Chambers believes that HousingLawDirect offers a valuable new way to obtain specialist legal advice: for an explanation of the reasoning behind the service, click here. The service is intended to complement existing services, making it easier and cheaper to access a specialist level of advice at an early stage, rather than leaving it until later when legal advice may more obviously be needed but when it may already be too late to avert a problem. It is anticipated that, properly used, HousingLawDirect can serve to alleviate pressure on in-house legal resources, providing a quicker response to the client and allowing in-house legal advisers to concentrate on other tasks, including litigation.

CIH members wishing to use HousingLawDirect need to address the issue internally, with employers and existing legal advisers. They will need powers - by standing orders or otherwise - to incur expenditure and to seek legal advice directly in this way, whether with or without the involvement of internal legal advisers. How - and whether - that happens will vary from organisation to organisation.

Arden Chambers is happy to respond to specific enquiries about what is needed, whether from qualified CIH members, from their employers or from existing legal advisers as appropriate. It is not, however, Arden Chambers’ policy to seek to persuade CIH members away from their existing advisers. Our policy is to work together with them in the interests of the client obtaining legal advice in the most appropriate way. (As information about HousingLawDirect makes clear, there will be many cases which are inappropriate for HousingLawDirect and which will need to be referred to solicitors).