In coordination with Legal Aid Foundation, Hsinchu County became the first county/city in Taiwan to provide online video legal consultancy service. It aims to provide residents in remote areas with legal resources. Residents of Hsinchu can now apply for free online legal consultancy through Legal Aid Foundation, Hsinchu Branch and consult with lawyers from the foundation either through computer, mobile phone or other mobile devices equipped with camera. In addition, besides the existing consultant services in Hsinchu County Government, Chudong Village office, Hukou Township Office, Jianshi Township Office, and Wufeng Village Office, additional consulting services are provided every Friday afternoon in Chudong and Hukou Township office and on a Wednesday morning every month in Qionglin, Guanshi and Beipu Township Office. The government does its best to build the service network for legal consultancy for the entire Hsinchu County.
Lin Chun-Rong, the President of Legal Aid Foundation, explained the difficulties of insufficient legal resources. It was difficult for lawyers to leave out job duties to offer services in remote areas. The foundation recently started to promote online video legal consultancy service. Last July, the county government started to provide video legal consultancy service in Jianshi Township and Wufeng Village. Starting from today, the service expands to the entire Hsinchu County.
Li Lin-Cheng, the president of Legal Aid Foundation Hsinchu Branch, indicated that the foundation, despite the requests by the magistrate, was unable to provide face-to-face legal consultation at local township offices because of limited manpower and budget. With the help of Hsinchu County Government, the foundation has been providing remote areas in Hsinchu County with face to face legal consultancy services. At the same time, it also sets up a system for online video legal consultancy. It offers the residents with the abundant resources of legal aid and services. Magistrate Chiu was happy about the progress and outstanding work done by the townships, villages, and the Legal Aid Foundation.
The online video legal consultancy service is only available through reservation for now. People interested in the service can either visit the website of Legal Aid Foundation Hsinchu Branch or the website of Hsinchu County Government. The process of applying to an online consultant is as following. Step 1: Download the application form. Step 2: File out the application form and briefly describe the case. Step 3: Email the application form and a copy of the applicant’s national identification card (or a copy of Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) for foreigners) to hsinchuonline@laf.org.tw with the subject “申請視訊法律諮詢”. After receiving the email, the Legal Aid Foundation will contact the applicant with follow-up information. For detailed instruction, please refer to Online Video Consultancy Service Application Process at http://www.laf.org.tw/upload/1425606165Process+Application.pdf (only in Chinese).