This contribution investigates the role of legal advisors in lobbying and advocacy work of non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Law is an important tool for NGOs, and many of them employ legal or ‘law and policy’ advisors. These advisors deal with a range of matters, providing strategic advice and legal support for community-based outreach work and engaging in litigation and policy dialogue with government and their agencies. Through a set of expert interviews conducted among legal advisors working in Brussels and Helsinki based NGOs, this contribution sheds light on the hitherto unknown group of legal experts. It is interested in how legal advisors see their own role in lobbyng and advocacy work that NGOs do and how they construct and shape the notion of public interest in their activities, trying to remain faithful to what they see as a “lawyer’s” role. At the same time, the contribution also provides information about new roles that lawyers have in modern societies and the increasing significance of legal expertise in lobbying and advocacy activities.