Best Solicitors in Newcastle City Centre

Newcastle city centre is the legal capital of the North East. The Combined Court Centre, home to the Crown Court, sits on the Quayside, and some of the region's best-known law firms have their headquarters within a short walk of Monument. That choice is useful, but it can also be confusing: some firms are built around big commercial clients, while others spend most of their time on divorces, police station calls and house moves. This guide sorts a handful of established city-centre firms by the kind of help they give, and finishes with the free routes worth trying first if money is tight.

Wills, probate and family: the large Newcastle firms

Ward Hadaway

Ward Hadaway was founded in Newcastle in 1988 and still has its main office at Sandgate House on the Quayside, opposite the Millennium Bridge. It is one of the region's largest firms and much of its work is for businesses and public bodies, but it has a dedicated team for private individuals. That covers succession planning (wills, trusts, tax and powers of attorney), divorce and relationship matters, cases involving children, and UK visas and immigration.

Visitors can park in the Sandgate multi-storey behind the building, and the firm arranges free parking for appointments if you give your registration at reception.

Best for: Best for: wills and estate planning with tax in the picture, and divorce where there are significant assets.

Muckle LLP

Muckle LLP describes itself as a commercial law firm, and its office at Time Central on Gallowgate, a few minutes from St James' Park, is mainly busy with business clients. If you run a company it covers employment law for employers, including a fixed-price employment retainer, alongside its wider commercial work. For individuals it has a private client team handling wills and inheritance tax, probate, trusts and lasting powers of attorney, plus contentious trusts and probate if a will is being challenged.

Best for: Best for: business owners who want their company and personal affairs (wills, probate, powers of attorney) under one roof.

Crime, family and everyday law

David Gray Solicitors

If you need a solicitor because something has gone wrong, David Gray Solicitors is the city-centre firm most likely to fit. It is based in the Old County Court at 56 Westgate Road, next to the Assembly Rooms, and has been practising for over 45 years. It has over 90 staff including 10 partners across Newcastle and a second office in South Shields.

Its range is unusually broad for a firm of its size: criminal defence (police station advice, Crown Court, fraud and motoring offences), family law and family mediation, mental health tribunals and Court of Protection work, immigration, residential property, and wills and probate. Ask on your first call whether legal aid could apply to your case, as eligibility depends on the type of matter and your circumstances.

Best for: Best for: criminal defence, police station advice, divorce and children cases, and mental health tribunals.

Hay & Kilner

Hay & Kilner is an independent North East firm based at The Lumen on St James' Boulevard, on Newcastle Helix just west of Central Station and an easy walk from the city centre. For individuals it offers divorce and family law, children matters, residential property (buying and selling a home), wills, trusts and estates, and disputes over wills and estates. It also has a clinical and dental negligence team, and on the business side an employment law and HR service.

Best for: Best for: conveyancing, family law and wills from a single independent regional firm.

Free and low-cost legal help

Not every problem needs a paid solicitor straight away, and a free first conversation can tell you whether it does.

Citizens Advice Newcastle

Citizens Advice Newcastle is a local charity that has been helping people in the city since 1939. It is based on the 4th floor of the City Library on New Bridge Street West and runs walk-in sessions from 10am to 12pm, Monday to Friday, with no appointment needed. Its advice line (0808 278 7823) is open 10am to 4pm on weekdays, and there is web chat and a self-referral form on its website. Advice is free, confidential and independent, covering money and debt, benefits, housing, employment, immigration, consumer problems and family issues. The charity says it is currently short of volunteer advisers, so expect some services to be restricted.

Best for: Best for: employment, housing, debt and benefits problems, and working out whether you need a solicitor at all.

Northumbria University Student Law Office

The Student Law Office at Northumbria University's School of Law is an award-winning law clinic in which qualified solicitors, supported by third-year law students, provide free legal services to members of the public, businesses and community groups. Capacity is limited, so it will not be able to take every case, but it is well worth contacting through the university's website if you cannot afford a solicitor.

Best for: Best for: free advice where a case fits the clinic's current work.

Choosing the right firm

Employment problems. If you are an employee, Citizens Advice is the place to start, and Acas, the government-funded workplace advice service, runs the early conciliation step you normally need before making an employment tribunal claim. Muckle and Hay & Kilner both advertise employment law for businesses.

After a death. Ward Hadaway, Muckle, David Gray and Hay & Kilner all handle probate. Our guide to what to do when someone dies in Newcastle covers registering the death and the practical steps before probate begins.

Running a business. For commercial work Ward Hadaway and Muckle are the obvious names, and our business support guide lists free advice from the Business and IP Centre, PNE and others.

Check before you instruct. Every solicitor in England and Wales must be authorised by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, and you can search any firm or individual on the SRA's online register at sra.org.uk. Ask for a written estimate of costs before you instruct a firm.

Know a city-centre solicitor or legal advice service we should add? Let us know.