Fight the good fight ... Defending legal aid

02:35 0 Comments

The fight for the future of legal aid continues.  Please read this superb item on the website of 1 Pump Court -

Defending Legal Aid. 

A couple of quotes from the article:

'The latest round of consultation, due to end on 1^st November 2013, retains within the proposals a number of features that will irreversibly undermine the criminal justice system. These are combined with proposed fee cuts for solicitors and barristers that will make working as a public servant in the criminal justice system financially untenable.

This raises the spectre of under-qualified, commercially orientated firms moving in to exploit the sector for profit, to the detriment of society as a whole.'



'In recent years legal aid has been subjected to piecemeal 'reform' and politically motivated attack which has jeopardised access to justice for the poor, vulnerable and marginalised as never before. We support the call for a Royal Commission to conduct an evidence based appraisal of the current system. We want to ensure legal aid is secured for future generations as a system fit for purpose, an integral and respected branch of a modern welfare state, as at it's inception in 1948.'


NOTE:  The government has extended to 1st November its (second) consultation on Transforming Legal Aid - Ministry of Justice and  Law Society Gazette.  Those who have already sent in a response would do well to check it against the somewhat altered consultation document.