1. Access to Justice

2. Starter What are the problems with legal advice? What help is there?

3. Group Activity You are the Government, decide in your group your budget and how you would provide legal aid. You need to consider: who you will fund types of cases eligibility rules your budget

4. History of Legal Aid 1949– 1st state-funded legal aid scheme 1980’s – system had developed into 6 different schemes Legal Aid Board – administered the schemes Cost of the system escalating 1999 – Access to Justice Act 1999 – major changes to the system

5. Legal Aid before 1999 6 schemes Legal advice & assistance scheme( the ‘green form’ scheme) Assistance by way of representation (ABWOR) Civil legal aid Criminal legal aid Duty solicitor- police stations Duty solicitor – magistrates’ courts

6. Legal Aid before 1999 Problems with the 6 schemes Eligibility levels dropped Under funding of system Fraud ad misuse f the system Poor standards of work Patchy coverage

7. Different sources of legal advice The local Citizens Advice Bureau Law Centres, where solicitors offer free advice The Community Legal Services Fund for help in Civil Cases, administered by the Legal Services Commission The Legal Services Commission provides a range of funding These help with initial advice and assistance, representation in court etc.

8. The Access to Justice Act 1999 In the White Paper, Modernising Justice, the Government stated that it needed to tackle the following problems: Inadequate access to good quality information and advice The inability to control legal aid The need to target legal aid on real legal needs, within a budget the taxpayer can afford. Under the Access to Justice Act 1999 the old legal aid scheme was replaced by 2 new schemes. The Community Legal Service for civil matters and the Criminal Defence Service for criminal cases.

9. Activity 1 Complete the loads of bricks activity using the internet and exercise book to help you.

10. Activity 2 In your groups complete a presentation on one of the following: Community Legal Service Criminal Defence Service Conditional Fees Advice Agencies

11. Activity 3 Explain the different ways of obtaining legal advice on both civil & criminal matters [20]