*/
The country’s ‘serious problem’ with access to justice will cause fragmentation, the President of the Supreme Court warned in a stinging attack on legal aid policy over the last 30 years.
Lord Neuberger, who retires in the autumn, told the Australian Bar Association’s biennial conference in July that it was ‘fundamentally wrong’ if ordinary citizens and businesses cannot obtain competent legal advice.
He said: ‘Access to justice is a practical, not a hypothetical, requirement. And if it does not exist, society will eventually start to fragment.
‘It is a fragmentation which arises when people lose faith in the legal system: they then lose faith in the rule of law, and that really does undermine society.’
Criticising successive governments, he said: ‘It verges on the hypocritical for governments to bestow rights on citizens while doing very little to ensure that those rights are enforceable.
‘It has faint echoes of the familiar and depressing sight of repressive totalitarian regimes producing wonderful constitutions and then ignoring them.’
Things, he said, had taken a ‘wrong turning’ with the Access to Justice Act 1999 and he doubted the clock could be turned back.
Commenting, Bar Chair Andrew Langdon QC said: ‘There needs to be a complete rethink on the availability and sufficiency of legal aid to prevent a dislocation of the law from the very many who cannot afford its protection.’
The country’s ‘serious problem’ with access to justice will cause fragmentation, the President of the Supreme Court warned in a stinging attack on legal aid policy over the last 30 years.
Lord Neuberger, who retires in the autumn, told the Australian Bar Association’s biennial conference in July that it was ‘fundamentally wrong’ if ordinary citizens and businesses cannot obtain competent legal advice.
He said: ‘Access to justice is a practical, not a hypothetical, requirement. And if it does not exist, society will eventually start to fragment.
‘It is a fragmentation which arises when people lose faith in the legal system: they then lose faith in the rule of law, and that really does undermine society.’
Criticising successive governments, he said: ‘It verges on the hypocritical for governments to bestow rights on citizens while doing very little to ensure that those rights are enforceable.
‘It has faint echoes of the familiar and depressing sight of repressive totalitarian regimes producing wonderful constitutions and then ignoring them.’
Things, he said, had taken a ‘wrong turning’ with the Access to Justice Act 1999 and he doubted the clock could be turned back.
Commenting, Bar Chair Andrew Langdon QC said: ‘There needs to be a complete rethink on the availability and sufficiency of legal aid to prevent a dislocation of the law from the very many who cannot afford its protection.’
Chair of the Bar sets out a busy calendar for the rest of the year
Why Virtual Assistants Can Meet the Legal Profession’s Exacting Standards
By Louise Crush of Westgate Wealth Management
Examined by Marie Law, Director of Toxicology at AlphaBiolabs
Time is precious for barristers. Every moment spent chasing paperwork, organising diaries, or managing admin is time taken away from what matters most: preparation, advocacy and your clients. That’s where Eden Assistants step in
AlphaBiolabs has announced its latest Giving Back donation to RAY Ceredigion, a grassroots West Wales charity that provides play, learning and community opportunities for families across Ceredigion County
Despite increased awareness, why are AI hallucinations continuing to infiltrate court cases at an alarming rate? Matthew Lee investigates
The proscribing of Palestine Action under the Terrorism Act is an assault on the English language and on civil liberties, argues Paul Harris SC, founder of the Bar Human Rights Committee
Come in with your eyes open, but don’t let fear cloud the prospect. A view from practice by John Dove
Anon Academic explains why he’s leaving the world of English literature for the Bar – after all, the two are not as far apart as they may first seem...
Review by Stephen Cragg KC
