Bach’s big idea welcome

Lawyers have given a warm welcome to the Bach Commission’s final report on access to justice, which calls for a ‘right to justice’ to be enshrined in law.

Former Justice minister Lord Bach, who headed the commission, urged all parties to support a Right to Justice Act that would create a new right for individuals ‘to receive reasonable legal assistance without costs they cannot afford’.

Andrew Langdon QC, Bar Council chair, said: ‘Lord Bach makes the important point that the rule of law and legal rights do not mean much unless citizens are able, through the legal system, to have them upheld, and that cuts to legal aid have made that impossible for many, especially the most vulnerable in society.’

CILEx President Milicent Grant said the report showed ‘ambitious thinking’, and highlighted the essential need for ‘a well-functioning market of independent legal service providers’ to achieve meaningful access to justice.

Writing in NLJ this week, columnist Jon Robins notes that the proportion of the population eligible for legal aid fell from eight out of 10 people in 1980 to less than one third of the population in 2007, and now stands at about one in five of us.

Lord Bach calls on the government to conduct its long-awaited review of LASPO which cut legal aid for large areas of civil and family law in 2013.

Robins says: ‘The report recommends introducing early legal help to pre-LASPO levels across the board and makes the case for widening scope to include all matters concerning children, as well as reinstating legal aid for areas of family law and immigration law. It proposes public funding for bereaved families in inquests and scrapping rules limiting funding for judicial review.’