Free Legal Help Office Opened In Moscow

Residents of downtown Moscow now have one more opportunity to find free legal help. A new "legal clinic" has been established in the office of Kirill Schitov, a deputy in the Moscow City Duma.

There are approximately 160 similar establishments in the country, including 15 in Moscow. Many of these legal help offices are located in specialized universities where clients receive consultations from students supervised by their teachers. The new clinic will be staffed by students of Moscow University of Industry and Finance as well as the Higher School of Economics. It is the second clinic developed by Kirill Schitov. The first opened in the spring, based in the local United Russia office in the Tverskoi District of Moscow. It is functioning effectively and received over 70 clients this summer, over one third of which came back for repeated consultation.

However, this is only a beginning of the project. Its goal is to open a legal clinic in every district of Moscow’s Central Region. “Increasing the legal knowledge of Moscow residents, especially in the area of housing, public services, and utilities, is one of the priorities established by Moscow’s Mayor Sergey Sobyanin," explained Schitov. "Housing reform is moving slowly with problems. Moscowites need legal knowledge to put an end to lawlessness."