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Band-aids for bullet holes: pro bono legal services post-LASPO
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The below article was originally published in January 2016 Family Law
and has been revised and made available free of charge for National Pro Bono Week which runs 7-11 November.The aim of the week is to celebrate the breadth and impact of pro bono work undertaken by the legal profession across the year.
When legal aid was first enshrined in British law in the form of the Legal Aid and Advice Act 1949 it was intended to be an essential component of the welfare state a service as integral to its citizens as health care and social insurance. In accordance with the rule of law its purpose was to ensure that anyone who needed legal advice would be able to access it regardless of economic or social status. Indeed when it came into effect in 1950 legal aid provided 80% of the population with a means-tested entitlement to funding for civil cases.
1 Pro bono legal charities which had been the sole point of access to justice for the economically downtrodden before the advent of legal aid instead filled in the gaps ...
Read the full article here.
