header-logo header-logo

Celebrity legal aid countdown

29 November 2018 / Steve Hynes
Issue: 7819 / Categories: Opinion , Legal aid focus
printer mail-detail

Steve Hynes charts the geography of political celebrity advice deserts

Legal aid advice deserts are a much-discussed phenomenon. The Law Society for example has published research on the paucity of housing law firms in many areas, and in the summer a report by the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights argued that the increasing lack of legal aid firms in many parts of the country was jeopardising people’s ability to enforce their human rights. A list of legal aid suppliers recently published by the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) confirm this bleak picture.

After a procurement process for civil legal aid contracts which involved re-tendering exercises for several tranches of work due to insufficient takers, the LAA published details of all legal aid firms and other providers at the end of last month. The Directory of Legal Aid Providers is a useful guide to the availability or lack of availability of legal aid at a local level. In total there are 6,369 offices around the country offering legal aid, 1,898 in criminal and 4,471

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

DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

NEWS
In this week's NLJ, Steven Ball of Red Lion Chambers unpacks how advances in forensic science finally unmasked Ryland Headley, jailed in 2025 for the 1967 rape and murder of 75-year-old Louisa Dunne. Preserved swabs and palm prints lay dormant for decades until DNA-17 profiling produced a billion-to-one match
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve reports on Haynes v Thomson, the first judicial application of the Supreme Court’s For Women Scotland ruling in a discrimination claim, in this week's NLJ
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
back-to-top-scroll