News

Online Legal Advice Service for Young People

REE is a 24/7, anonymous and confidential legal chatbot which uses AI to provide children and young people with bite sized information on their rights in NI. REE can also connect young people with more complex legal queries to an online legal advisor through REE Live Chat for additional advice if they need it and/or signpost them to other kinds of useful support e.g. Childline. So far REE has supported nearly 600 private online conversations on children’s legal rights.

REE is…

  • Made by young people for young people
  • Always confidential
  • Mobile compatible
  • Available 24/7
  • Fully accessible
    • Text to speech to text and translation capability on all devices
  • Connected to an integrated, bespoke Live Chat legal advice service for young people (aged 13 – 17)

What do young people think of REE?

“It has great services and is quick and easy to use.”
“…quick responses – not like email.”
“I found out things I didn’t know.”

Our digital journey so far

With support over the past two years from Community Foundation NI – Techies in Residence Programme, Innovate NI, the Legal Education Fund, Department for Communities, Baker McKenzie (pro bono legal research team) and most recently National Lottery – Community Fund, REE Rights Responder (chatbot) went live on the 5 November 2019. REE was built in collaboration with youth@clc, our youth advisory panel and 400 other young people from all backgrounds, across NI.

The Live Chat service is available Monday – Friday; 9am – 5pm and may be extended to include an out of hours service, subject to demand.

Child Law Hub

CLC’s Child Law Hub provides a comprehensive and interactive information and e learning platform on children’s rights for both young people and adults, with quick integrated links to free CLC legal advice via REE and Live Chat, email or phone as well as signposting to other kinds of support for young people who need it e.g. mental health support.

Who helped us develop REE and our new Child Law Hub?

CLC would like to thank everyone who has helped us on our digital journey so far. In particular thanks to youth@clc and our volunteers, our tech developers Damgeo Ltd, our funders and all the young people who participated in user research workshops over the past two years.

What’s next?

REE and the Child Law Hub are still a work in progress. We will continue to work with young people to add more legal content and innovative multi media learning resources to improve user experience and make our services even more accessible to all types of young people aged 13 – 17. We will also further develop our Parents and Practitioners hub. Check our training section for upcoming online legal seminars and briefings on children’s rights.