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17 July 2008 / Tim Dutton KC
Issue: 7330 / Categories: Opinion , Public
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A public-private partnership

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The profession—not the government—should be shaping the future of legal aid, says Tim Dutton QC

At the All Party Parliamentary Group meeting on 20 May of this year, I launched the discussion paper Legal Aid and the Public Interest—Towards an Effective Public Private Partnership. This sets out the Bar's basis for engaging with all stakeholders in the legal aid system in a sensible, objective and necessary debate, away from some of the customary brouhaha, about the type of legal aid system we all want to see in the future in this country.

We tend to hear the oft-quoted mantra that our legal aid system is the “most expensive” in the world. If true it is something to be proud of, provided of course that the expense is not the result of waste and overpayment. In much the same way that the National Health Service has been held in high regard, we should be proud that our legal aid system has been considered one of the best at providing justice for the most vulnerable and

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