“Divorce can be a highly complex issue and many people going through it feel legal representation is vital. Until now, legal aid has been available to fund it, but new legislation means it will no longer be available in England and Wales.”
BBC News, 8th December 2010
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“These are dark days for junior legal aid lawyers. Even before the cuts to the legal aid budget were announced last month, they were struggling to get by on salaries that are among the lowest in the public sector (£16,650 for trainee solicitors and £10,000 for trainee barristers, rising to little more than £25,000 after several years in the job). Now they’re bracing themselves for their practices to be decimated as many of their clients lose eligibility for state funding.”
The Guardian, 3rd December 2010
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“The House of Commons’ Justice Committee has launched an inquiry into the government’s recent legal aid green paper, inviting evidence on the likely impact of the reforms on the number and quality of legal aid practitioners, and whether the government’s civil justice proposals mirror the Jackson report.”
Law Society’s Gazette, 2nd December 2010
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
“Legal aid solicitors have been overpaid by almost £77m, according to a report published today by public spending watchdog, the National Audit Office.”
Law Society’s Gazette, 30th November 2010
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
“Families who claim the epilepsy drug was linked to birth defects have few options left after the LSC withdrew funding.”
The Guardian, 29th November 2010
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“The most common reaction to last week’s Ministry of Justice green paper on legal aid is shock. That shock is manifested among legal aid practitioners, clients and the groups that speak for clients.”
Law Society’s Gazette, 25th November 2010
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
“Is it a good idea to rely on organisations whose priority is making money to provide legal advice for those who can’t afford it?”
The Guardian, 19th November 2010
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“Mediation ‘cannot be a substitute for justice’, the master of the rolls warned this week, in a view that appears sharply at odds with government proposals to replace many legal aid-funded cases with alternative dispute resolution.”
Law Society’s Gazette, 18th November 2010
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
“Legal affairs correspondent, Afua Hirsch, dissects the green paper on legal aid and gives her views on the most important passages. Click on the highlighted paragraphs to read their comments or use the annotations bar at the top of the page to flick through them.”
Proposal for Reform of Legal Aid in England and Wales
The Guardian, 17th November 2010
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“The Bar Council, which represents barristers in England and Wales, has said that the launch of Government consultations on reform of the legal aid system and on civil litigation is necessary but the impact of the proposals on the most vulnerable must be considered very carefully.”
The Bar Council, 15th November 2010
Source: www.barcouncil.org.uk
“The justice secretary, Kenneth Clarke, worked hard today to try to remove some of the political sting from his much-anticipated unveiling of swingeing legal aid cuts. The scale of the reductions – £350m a year to be taken out of a £914m-a-year civil and family legal aid budget by 2014 – had been widely anticipated.”
The Guardian, 15th November 2010
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“Hundreds of thousands of people with family and housing law problems will no longer have access to free legal advice under government proposals announced today (15 November).”
The Guardian, 15th November 2010
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“The government’s legal aid body was today accused of acting as ‘judge and jury’ by withdrawing state funding from a test case by families of disabled children against a pharmaceutical company.”
The Guardian, 9th November 2010
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“People with mental health problems are finding it increasingly difficult to get lawyers to represent them at tribunals because of changes to the legal aid system.”
The Guardian, 9th November 2010
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“A High Court judge has refused an injunction that could have further delayed the start of the new mental health and public law legal aid contracts – but awarded a protective costs order to enable a legal challenge to the two Legal Services Commission tender processes.”
Law Society’s Gazette, 8th November 2010
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
“Dozens of families who blame an epilepsy drug for causing birth defects in their children say they are devastated that legal aid to sue its maker has been withdrawn.”
BBC News, 8th November 2010
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
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