If you have a legal problem and need competent information as to how to proceed, you might find it useful to contact a Citizens Advice Bureau in the United Kingdom or in Switzerland. You will find these in the telephone directory or on the Internet (UK / CH). In Switzerland these Bureaux are known as "Rechtsauskunftsstelle" (Zürich and Berne) or "Permanence Avocats" (Versoix, Canton Geneva; can also be contacted for Canton Vaud) or "Permanence juridique" (Lausanne, Neuchâtel and Fribourg). In the case of Basle you should ring the contact point for the Bar Chambers ("Advokatenkammer Basel - Kontaktstelle"), and for Ticino you may call the "Ordine degli avvocati" of that Canton in Chiasso. If necessary the office of the Bar Association in the relevant Canton can generally be approached for information about these services (see The Swiss Bar Association).

The Bureaux will give you legal advice or further assistance in - at the very least - a short interview for a fee which is normally quite modest (free of charge in the United Kingdom). However your case will not usually be resolved directly at this point.