Access to justice Flashcards
Sources of civil legal advice (8)
Government
Private
Free
Government civil
LASPO 2012 created legal aid agency
Civil has limited funds from government
Only for social justice issues
Merits test looks at:
Cost of service
Availability of resources
Importance for individual
Prospect of success
Public interest
Conduct of individual asking
Private civil
Claimants can use own funds to pay for advice
Under direct access scheme they can go to barrister of their choice
Solicitor firms offer free initial consultations
members of trade unions or insurance companies include some legal cover
Claimants can also use conditional fee agreement : no win no fee
Usually has success fee of up to 25%
Free advice civil
Citizens advice bureau; most high streets, free advice for social justice issues, volunteers
Law centres ; deprived communities, very few in uk, free legal advice on social justice issues
Free representation units; staffed by volunteer law students, free legal advice
Charities; Shelter, who can provide legal advice
Pro Bono: Bar pro bono unit in london offers free advice
Media; websites to help with common legal issues
government criminal
LASPO
Free legal advice at police station - duty solicitor, phone or in person, can decline and use own
Magistrates intial - free legal at this stage
Public defender service :
legal aid agency has contracts with various solicitor firms to provides these
Merits test - interests of justice:
loss of liberty, clarify point of law, suspect doesnt understand english
Witnesses required
Case has interests of another
Means:
finances, savings above 8k stop them
22k earning limit magistrates
37.5k limit crown
Private criminal
Suspect fund their own
Represent themselves in magisrates or pay
Loans / savings / credit cards
Problem with gov funding: cut to legal aid budget
Reduced from 1.2 bill to 850 mill in 10 years
Less availbility of lawyers and legal advice, restricts justice
Especially problematic for magistrates cases as very few people qualify
However: government cuts are everywhere, most magistrates minor so D represent easily
Prob with gov funding: issues with merits test
Interests of justice test and test under s.11 LASPO for civil cases restricts who can access justice - eligibility fallen to 82%
Means those claiming for social justice may not get support needed
However: Needs to be some restrictions to save money and other agencies can help for free
Prob with gov funding: Rise in people representing themselves
As gov funding is so restrictive many people pay for their own legal advice so they can pick and choose best lawyer
As this is so expensive many represent themselves - yet this causes imbalance as they have no legal knowledge
However: this only happens in minor cases, many places to go for free
Prob with gov funding: outside agencies ovewhelmed
Outside agencies such as Law Centres, CAB or free representation units allow people to get legal advice for free
However due to cut in legal aid they have seen huge increase in people using them, causing long waiting lists
But most civil issues are not urgent therefore they can wait for this advice
Prob with gov funding: issues with conditional fee arrangements
These do allow people to access legal advice and representation for civil cases where they would otherwise not have this and despite success fee (usually 25%), they keep the proportion of compensation they would otherwise have never received (75 better than 0)
However: they only take on cases they are likely to win, there are hidden costs
