Legal Services

Internal requests for legal advice (except in relation to employment or estates issues) should be submitted through the Legal Services Internal Client Portal.

Our Services

Please note the team is unable to provide advice to individual members of staff or students on matters that are personal or are not of an institutional nature.

Core UCL activity and other activity

The Legal Services team has to prioritise the provision of advice and support to UCL’s core day to day activities.

If a request for advice does not relate to UCL’s core activities or is revenue generating, it is likely that external advisors will need to be engaged to support the activity.  
Any engagement of external lawyers must be coordinated through the Legal Services team.

Where external advice is required we utilise our significant experience of working within the legal sector to ensure that the project obtains best value for the legal advice required. Our role is not restricted to identifying appropriately experienced lawyers and obtaining fee proposals for approval by the project team. We will also manage every aspect of the relationship with the external advisors, coordinating the provision of advice and ensuring full instructions are given to external advisors.

Disputes with third parties

You should notify the Legal Services team as soon as you become aware that any individual or organisation is considering a legal claim against or involving UCL. 

If you receive formal notice of any legal action against UCL, you must provide details and relevant documentation to the Legal Services team immediately. 

Disputes with employees should be notified to the HR team immediately.

Engagement with Legal Services

The Legal Services team works closely with Professional Services and other teams / functions within UCL across a broad range of activity. It is usually best to contact the relevant team / function within UCL first and they will then liaise with the Legal Services team if they require legal assistance.  Some examples of matters and the appropriate team are as follows:

Matter	Team
Student Matters	Student & Registry Services
Data Protection / FOI	Data Protection/FOI Officer
Funded Research	Research Services
Insurance	Insurance Team
Industry Placements	Student & Registry Services
NDAs & MOUs	Faculty Enterprise Team
Purchasing goods or services	Procurement
Staff Consultancy	UCL Consultants
Staffing/HR Issues	Human Resources
IP Commercialisation	UCL Business
IP Policies	Library Services / Innovation and Enterprise
Property Issues	Estates
Alumni / Fundraising	VP Development
International Activity	Global Engagement Office
Teaching / Consumer Protection	Student & Registry Services

How to contact us

Please note that UCL does not accept service of legal documents, including court documents, by email.

Our office address is available on request. Please contact legal@ucl.ac.uk.