Access to Justice

Starter

What are the problems with legal advice?

What help is there?

Group Activity

You are the Government, decide in your group your budget and how you

would provide legal aid.

You need to consider: who you will fund types of cases eligibility rules your budget

1949 – 1st state-funded legal aid scheme

1980’s – system had developed into 6 different schemes

Legal Aid Board – administered the schemes

Cost of the system escalating 1999 – Access to Justice Act

1999 – major changes to the system

History of Legal Aid

6 schemes

Legal advice & assistance scheme( the ‘green form’ scheme)

Assistance by way of representation (ABWOR)

Civil legal aid Criminal legal aid Duty solicitor- police stations Duty solicitor – magistrates’ courts

Legal Aid before 1999

Problems with the 6 schemes

Eligibility levels dropped Under funding of system Fraud ad misuse f the system Poor standards of work Patchy coverage

Legal Aid before 1999

Different sources of legal advice

1. The local Citizens Advice Bureau2. Law Centres, where solicitors offer free advice3. The Community Legal Services Fund for help

in Civil Cases, administered by the Legal Services Commission

4. The Legal Services Commission provides a range of funding

5. These help with initial advice and assistance, representation in court etc.

The Access to Justice Act 1999

In the White Paper, Modernising Justice, the Government stated that it needed to tackle the following problems:

1. Inadequate access to good quality information and advice

2. The inability to control legal aid3. The need to target legal aid on real legal needs,

within a budget the taxpayer can afford.

Under the Access to Justice Act 1999 the old legal aid scheme was replaced by 2 new schemes.The Community Legal Service for civil matters and the Criminal Defence Service for criminal cases.

Activity 1

Complete the loads of bricks activity using the internet and exercise book to

help you.

Activity 2

In your groups complete a presentation on one of the following:

1. Community Legal Service2. Criminal Defence Service

3. Conditional Fees4. Advice Agencies

Activity 3

Explain the different ways of obtaining legal advice on both civil & criminal

matters [20]