header-logo header-logo

Home Login E-newsletter About us
08 December 2016 / Dr Jon Robins
Issue: 7726 / Categories: Opinion , Legal aid focus , Legal services
printer mail-detail

Bach for good

© Copyright LexisNexis 2026. All Rights Reserved.

Jon Robins examines the interim report of the Bach Commission on Access to Justice

Lord Willy Bach was by his own account a late convert to the cause of publicly funded social welfare law, but he has proved a doughty champion of the cause in recent years. “The LASPO (Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012) cuts have produced a crisis in the justice system and the poorest in our society can no longer receive the legal support they require,” the Labour peer said last week. The Bach Commission on Access to Justice published its interim report revealing a justice system (in its words) “creaking at the seams”.

I interviewed the Labour peer in April 2012 just minutes after LASPO completed its journey through Parliament. He described his Damascene conversion, when as a New Labour minister who “knew precious little” of the legal not for profit sector, he was given “a really hard time” as he attempted to make his exit from a Law Centre Federation AGM in Birmingham.

LASPO attack

Back

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Read All
Sponsored by
Gibson Dunn—Richard Surtees

Gibson Dunn—Richard Surtees

Gibson Dunn adds employee benefits and executive compensation practice in London with partner Richard Surtees

Laytons ETL—Alec Cameron

Laytons ETL—Alec Cameron

Laytons ETL appoints new partner and head of intellectual property disputes

Muckle LLP—Roland Fairlamb

Muckle LLP—Roland Fairlamb

Specialist associate solicitor rejoins Muckle’s leading employment team

NEWS
Read All
Good faith test is objective, rules Supreme Court
The Supreme Court has clarified the scope of a director’s duty, in a case where a chairman’s good intentions went awry due to the pandemic
Fisher review urges tough action on digital fraud
Digital fraud is ‘baffling policymakers, investigators, prosecutors and enforcers’, leaving ‘a massive justice gap’, the author of a government-commissioned independent review has warned
Regulatory overseer must do better
Richard Lloyd’s independent review of the Legal Services Board (LSB) has delivered a devastating verdict, accusing the super-regulator of having ‘lost its way in recent years’
Hillsborough Law imposes duty of candour
The House of Commons has passed the Hillsborough Law, in a historic achievement for campaigners, survivors and families of those who died in the 1989 stadium collapse
Judging statistics show mixed bag on diversity progress
Judicial statistics show a steady rise in the number of female judges and Asian and mixed ethnicity judges in the past ten years—however, progress in terms of representation has stalled for both Black lawyers and for solicitors
Copyright © 2026 LexisNexis
back-to-top-scroll