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Forum Home  →  Discussion  →  Access to justice and advice sector issues  →  Thread

Fundamental look at legal aid system begins

shawn mach
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The government has announced a ‘fundamental look’ at the legal aid system, designed to create a ‘stable and sustainable system providing access to justice for those who need it most’.

http://www.justice.gov.uk/announcement230610b.htm

Gareth Morgan
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shawn - 24 June 2010 08:41 AM

a ‘stable and sustainable system providing access to justice for those who need it most’.

They’re going to increase the budget then?

ClaireHodgson
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some years ago they stopped legal aid for personal injury cases - it was the only bit of the legal aid system that didn’t cost them anything much at all (as cases were won, and money given back to the legal aid board in consequence).  result we have to do stuff on no win no fee which most clients assume also means they don’t have to pay their disbursements, with the result that they have to be paid out of overdraft.. .. um… rant over…

neilbateman
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And as predicted by the legal aid sector at the time, there was an explosion in conditional fee arrangements for personal injury and consequently in the levels of damages and range of claims.  Result?  We all end up paying a load more in insurance premiums.  A classic example of a government spending cut creating greater costs somewhere else.

ClaireHodgson
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neilbateman - 06 July 2010 12:31 PM

  Result?  We all end up paying a load more in insurance premiums.

actually, not.  you’re believing what you read in the press, which is all put out by the insurance industry….