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referrrals from MPs for pro bono advice soar ...
“MPs are referring the highest proportion of cases to the Bar Pro Bono Unit, as the number of people unable to afford a lawyer soars.
Chief executive Rebecca Wilkie said she had been ‘shocked’ at the speed of the increase in requests for free representation.
Since the implementation in April of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act, which removed legal aid for much civil law, there has been a 30% rise in referrals.
The number of referrals from chambers has doubled, and six times as many are coming from courts and tribunals. But the largest increase has been from MPs, who now account for 15% of cases.
‘Law centres and Citizens Advice bureaux are disappearing and their MP’s surgery is the only place people can go to get advice, reflecting the level of the cuts,’ she said.”