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Legal aid: humans & justice must come first

20 October 2017
Issue: 7766 / Categories: Legal News , Legal aid focus , Profession
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Successive governments have reduced legal aid to the level of ‘mundane horse trading of practical politics’, says Geoffrey Bindman QC.

In an article this week, the NLJ columnist says legal aid was dealt its heaviest blow by LASPO (Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012) but the recent Bach Commission proposal for a new Right to Justice Act offers fresh hope.

‘By a striking coincidence the constitutional supremacy of access to justice has almost simultaneously been re-asserted by the Supreme Court in Unison v Lord Chancellor [where employment tribunal fees were held to be unlawful],’ he writes. ‘In outlawing the imposition of oppressive fees in employment tribunals the court highlighted the right of all citizens to access to justice as a fundamental constitutional principle.’ (See Comment)

Issue: 7766 / Categories: Legal News , Legal aid focus , Profession
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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Birketts—trainee cohort

Birketts—trainee cohort

Firm welcomes new cohort of 29 trainee solicitors for 2025

Keoghs—four appointments

Keoghs—four appointments

Four partner hires expand legal expertise in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Real estate team in Yorkshire welcomes new partner

NEWS
Robert Taylor of 360 Law Services warns in this week's NLJ that adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) risks entrenching disadvantage for SME law firms, unless tools are tailored to their needs
The Court of Protection has ruled in Macpherson v Sunderland City Council that capacity must be presumed unless clearly rebutted. In this week's NLJ, Sam Karim KC and Sophie Hurst of Kings Chambers dissect the judgment and set out practical guidance for advisers faced with issues relating to retrospective capacity and/or assessments without an examination
Delays and dysfunction continue to mount in the county court, as revealed in a scathing Justice Committee report and under discussion this week by NLJ columnist Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School. Bulk claims—especially from private parking firms—are overwhelming the system, with 8,000 cases filed weekly
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
From oligarchs to cosmetic clinics, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) target journalists, activists and ordinary citizens with intimidating legal tactics. Writing in NLJ this week, Sadie Whittam of Lancaster University explores the weaponisation of litigation to silence critics
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