Government's proposed reform of legal aid

Government's proposed reform of legal aid PDF Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Justice Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215557131
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 86

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Book Description
In this report, the Justice Committee examines the Government's proposed reform of legal aid. The proposals are intended to reduce by £350 million a year the cost of the system (which, with expenditure of more than £2 billion annually, is one of the most expensive in the world) at a time when the Ministry of Justice has to reduce its overall spending by almost a quarter. Certain areas of law will fall outside the scope of legal aid, with some being removed in their entirety, which includes family law, though not domestic violence. The Committee is unconvinced that using domestic violence as a proxy for the most serious cases is advisable and calls on Government to look at other ways legal aid can be focussed on the most serious family law cases. The Committee does welcome the Government's support for mediation services in family cases, but does not see this as a panacea. Further work needs to be done on how difficult and unresolved cases can be dealt with if legal aid is not available. The implementation of the proposals regarding family law should not happen before the Family Justice Review Panel has produced its full report. Cost reduction is achievable through public bodies, such as the Department for Work and Pensions, getting their decisions right first time and avoiding expensive court and tribunal cases. The Committee also thinks that the Government should reconsider whether legal aid should be available for certain types of judicial review. There is a degree of consensus amongst all political parties that the cost of legal aid needs to be reduced, but it is imperative that there is a careful assessment of the impact of the proposed changes on those people most dependent on legal aid. The Government needs to refine its proposals further before introducing a major change in the way the accessibility of the justice system has come to be viewed.

Government's proposed reform of legal aid

Government's proposed reform of legal aid PDF Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Justice Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215557131
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 86

Get Book Here

Book Description
In this report, the Justice Committee examines the Government's proposed reform of legal aid. The proposals are intended to reduce by £350 million a year the cost of the system (which, with expenditure of more than £2 billion annually, is one of the most expensive in the world) at a time when the Ministry of Justice has to reduce its overall spending by almost a quarter. Certain areas of law will fall outside the scope of legal aid, with some being removed in their entirety, which includes family law, though not domestic violence. The Committee is unconvinced that using domestic violence as a proxy for the most serious cases is advisable and calls on Government to look at other ways legal aid can be focussed on the most serious family law cases. The Committee does welcome the Government's support for mediation services in family cases, but does not see this as a panacea. Further work needs to be done on how difficult and unresolved cases can be dealt with if legal aid is not available. The implementation of the proposals regarding family law should not happen before the Family Justice Review Panel has produced its full report. Cost reduction is achievable through public bodies, such as the Department for Work and Pensions, getting their decisions right first time and avoiding expensive court and tribunal cases. The Committee also thinks that the Government should reconsider whether legal aid should be available for certain types of judicial review. There is a degree of consensus amongst all political parties that the cost of legal aid needs to be reduced, but it is imperative that there is a careful assessment of the impact of the proposed changes on those people most dependent on legal aid. The Government needs to refine its proposals further before introducing a major change in the way the accessibility of the justice system has come to be viewed.

Rebooting Justice

Rebooting Justice PDF Author: Benjamin H. Barton
Publisher: Encounter Books
ISBN: 1594039348
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 198

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Book Description
America is a nation founded on justice and the rule of law. But our laws are too complex, and legal advice too expensive, for poor and even middle-class Americans to get help and vindicate their rights. Criminal defendants facing jail time may receive an appointed lawyer who is juggling hundreds of cases and immediately urges them to plead guilty. Civil litigants are even worse off; usually, they get no help at all navigating the maze of technical procedures and rules. The same is true of those seeking legal advice, like planning a will or negotiating an employment contract. Rebooting Justice presents a novel response to longstanding problems. The answer is to use technology and procedural innovation to simplify and change the process itself. In the civil and criminal courts where ordinary Americans appear the most, we should streamline complex procedures and assume that parties will not have a lawyer, rather than the other way around. We need a cheaper, simpler, faster justice system to control costs. We cannot untie the Gordian knot by adding more strands of rope; we need to cut it, to simplify it.

Good Government and Law

Good Government and Law PDF Author: J. Faundez
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1349252298
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 291

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Book Description
The provision of legal technical assistance has in recent years become a major concern for international financial institutions, such as the World Bank, and for Western-based bilateral donor agencies. This book offers critical perspectives for the evaluation of legal technical assistance projects and contains proposals for action and research. Five chapters offer general perspectives on law, state and civil society and the remaining six case studies on themes such as economic regulation, agrarian reform, representation of women and access to justice.

A Fairer Deal for Legal Aid

A Fairer Deal for Legal Aid PDF Author: Great Britain: Department for Constitutional Affairs
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780101659123
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 48

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Book Description
Dated July 2005.

Model Rules of Professional Conduct

Model Rules of Professional Conduct PDF Author: American Bar Association. House of Delegates
Publisher: American Bar Association
ISBN: 9781590318737
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
The Model Rules of Professional Conduct provides an up-to-date resource for information on legal ethics. Federal, state and local courts in all jurisdictions look to the Rules for guidance in solving lawyer malpractice cases, disciplinary actions, disqualification issues, sanctions questions and much more. In this volume, black-letter Rules of Professional Conduct are followed by numbered Comments that explain each Rule's purpose and provide suggestions for its practical application. The Rules will help you identify proper conduct in a variety of given situations, review those instances where discretionary action is possible, and define the nature of the relationship between you and your clients, colleagues and the courts.

Legal Design

Legal Design PDF Author: Corrales Compagnucci, Marcelo
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 183910726X
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
This innovative book proposes new theories on how the legal system can be made more comprehensible, usable and empowering for people through the use of design principles. Utilising key case studies and providing real-world examples of legal innovation, the book moves beyond discussion to action. It offers a rich set of examples, demonstrating how various design methods, including information, service, product and policy design, can be leveraged within research and practice.

Outsourcing Legal Aid in the Nordic Welfare States

Outsourcing Legal Aid in the Nordic Welfare States PDF Author: Olaf Halvorsen Rønning
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319466844
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 345

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Book Description
This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. This edited collection provides a comprehensive analysis of the differences and similarities between civil legal aid schemes in the Nordic countries whilst outlining recent legal aid transformations in their respective welfare states. Based on in-depth studies of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Iceland, the authors compare these cases with legal aid in Europe and the US to examine whether a single, unique Nordic model exists. Contextualizing Nordic legal aid in relation to welfare ideology and human rights, Hammerslev and Halvorsen Rønning consider whether flaws in the welfare state exist, and how legal aid affects disadvantaged citizens. Concluding that the five countries all have very different legal aid schemes, the authors explore an important general trend: welfare states increasingly outsourcing legal aid to the market and the third sector through both membership organizations and smaller voluntary organizations. A methodical and compassionate text, this book will be of special interest to scholars and students of the criminal justice, the welfare state, and the legal aid system.

Legal aid reform in England and Wales

Legal aid reform in England and Wales PDF Author: Great Britain: Ministry of Justice
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780101807227
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
This is the Government response to Cm. 7967 'Proposals for reform of legal aid in England and Wales (ISBN 9780101796729) and sets out the plans to deliver the goals stated in that paper. The legal aid programme put forward includes: reform of the classes of cases and proceedings retained within the scope of legal aid; exceptional funding; amendment of merits test criteria for civil legal aid; establishment of the Community Legal Advice Telephone helpline; financial eligibility reforms; criminal remuneration; civil and family remuneration; expert fees and alternative sources of funding

The Legal Aid Market

The Legal Aid Market PDF Author: Jo Wilding
Publisher: Policy Press
ISBN: 1447358503
Category : Legal aid
Languages : en
Pages : 212

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Book Description
Even though legal aid is available for people seeking asylum, there is uneven access to advice across Britain. Based on empirical research, this book offers fresh thinking on what has gone wrong in the legal aid market. It presents a rare picture of the barristers, solicitors and caseworkers practising immigration law in charities and private firms. In doing so, this book examines supply and demand and illuminates what constitutes high-quality legal aid work/provision, subsequent conflicts with financial rationality and how practitioners resolve these issues. Challenging existing legal aid policy, this book presents innovative insights to ensure public service markets around the globe function well for all those involved.

Reforming Juvenile Justice

Reforming Juvenile Justice PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309278937
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 463

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Book Description
Adolescence is a distinct, yet transient, period of development between childhood and adulthood characterized by increased experimentation and risk-taking, a tendency to discount long-term consequences, and heightened sensitivity to peers and other social influences. A key function of adolescence is developing an integrated sense of self, including individualization, separation from parents, and personal identity. Experimentation and novelty-seeking behavior, such as alcohol and drug use, unsafe sex, and reckless driving, are thought to serve a number of adaptive functions despite their risks. Research indicates that for most youth, the period of risky experimentation does not extend beyond adolescence, ceasing as identity becomes settled with maturity. Much adolescent involvement in criminal activity is part of the normal developmental process of identity formation and most adolescents will mature out of these tendencies. Evidence of significant changes in brain structure and function during adolescence strongly suggests that these cognitive tendencies characteristic of adolescents are associated with biological immaturity of the brain and with an imbalance among developing brain systems. This imbalance model implies dual systems: one involved in cognitive and behavioral control and one involved in socio-emotional processes. Accordingly adolescents lack mature capacity for self-regulations because the brain system that influences pleasure-seeking and emotional reactivity develops more rapidly than the brain system that supports self-control. This knowledge of adolescent development has underscored important differences between adults and adolescents with direct bearing on the design and operation of the justice system, raising doubts about the core assumptions driving the criminalization of juvenile justice policy in the late decades of the 20th century. It was in this context that the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) asked the National Research Council to convene a committee to conduct a study of juvenile justice reform. The goal of Reforming Juvenile Justice: A Developmental Approach was to review recent advances in behavioral and neuroscience research and draw out the implications of this knowledge for juvenile justice reform, to assess the new generation of reform activities occurring in the United States, and to assess the performance of OJJDP in carrying out its statutory mission as well as its potential role in supporting scientifically based reform efforts.