Access To Justice & Funding Flashcards
Sources of Legal Advice (5)
> Help Lines
Citizens Advice Bureaux
Law centres
Trade Unions
Schemes run by lawyers
Help Lines
Civil Legal Advice (CLA) is a government funded phone assistance scheme for people with problems such as:
> Debt or if your home is at risk
> Housing - homeless or at risk of becoming homeless
> Domestic Abuse
> Family Law Issues - children took
> Special education needs
> Discrimination
Citizens Advice Bureaux
> Gives free advice in 2540 locations, most advice on debt and social welfare problems.
Can advise which solicitors will do legal aid work or provide free initial consultations.
Some branches have a solicitor to visit every week or fortnight.
CBA offered legal advice to 2.8 million people in 2019/20.
Law Centres
> offer free, non means tested advice to people in that area
aim is to provide free legal advice in areas where there are few solicitors, in 2020 there were 42 law centres
struggle with funding, local authority cuts have led to some law centres having to close
Trade Unions
> Offer their members free legal advice for all work related problems
Some offer legal advice for other issues that are not connected to work
UNITE is largest trade union in country, provide members with free legal advice and free legal representation for any personal injury case
Schemes ran by lawyers
> Some solicitors offer a free 30 minute first consultation, CAB holds a list of which will
Bar Pro-Bono unit is staffed by volunteer barristers, will give free advice to those who cannot afford to pay and those who are not eligible for legal aid. Will give advice for any area of law and if necessary provide representation in court.
Sources of Funding in Civil Cases
> Private Funding - own resources
Private Legal Insurance
Conditional Fee Agreements
PUBLIC FUNDING NOT AVAILABLE FOR TORT OR CONTRACT.
Means testing
Private Funding - Own resources
> Be very expensive and in reality only an option for the wealthy and businesses.
Many solicitors offer free 30 min consultation or a pro-bono service
For civil matters can directly consult a barrister without seeing a solicitor first, reduce costs
Private Legal Insurance
> Most motor insurance policies will offer legal protection, meaning they can help with legal fees which may arise from road accidents.
Policies for home insurance will cover legal costs for claims arising at home
Conditional fee agreements
> Difficulty to estimate how long case will go on for or how much it will cost so CFA is an option
Solicitors / Barriers agree to take no fee if case is lost but can raise their fee up to a maximum of double the rate if they win.
To ensure money is available to pay the others side legal costs if the case is lost, there is an ‘after-the-event’ insurance scheme.
Means Testing
> Eligibility for funding depends on a means test, consider applicants disposable income and capital.
If income is below the minimum limits then they pay no contribution, if it is between upper and lower limits a contribution must be paid.
Those on income support automatically qualify
