access to justice
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TRANSCRIPT
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]