Fair Access to Justice
Legal Aid in the UK
Zhang Tingting
February 2013
Contents
I
What is legal aid
II
Legal aid reforms in the UK
III Legal aid in China
IV Five lessons
I What is legal aid
● A kind of judicial relief.
● Those who are in poverty or are special cases may get
legal assistance by means of a reduction or an exemption
from service fees.
● Guarantee all citizens enjoy equal protection by law.
● The fair access to justice.
● Nobody should be financially unable to
prosecute a just and reasonable claim or defend the
legal right.
II Legal aid reforms in the UK
The earliest
country to set
up a legal aid
system
The best
legislation and
operating
regulations
The most
sufficient
funds
● Fundamental to a fair and decent society.
● One of the cornerstones of the post-war welfare state.
II Legal aid reforms in the UK
Legal Aid Reform History
1988
2006
Legal Aid Act 1988
1999
Access To Justice Act 1999
2013
The Legal Aid,
Sentencing and
Punishment of
Offenders Act 2012
the Way Ahead(2006),
Legal Services Act 2007
II Legal aid reforms in the UK
Meeting problems, resolving problems.
FOCUS
Budget
Quality
II Legal aid reforms in the UK
The First Reform---Legal Aid Act 1988
● Legal Aid Commission( LAC) take over the Law Society.
● More convenient to get legal aid.
Problems:
● Sharp increase of funds.
£0.4b → £1.3b → £1.5b
(1988)
(1994)
(1997)
● Lack of effective measures to ensure legal service
quality.
II Legal aid reforms in the UK
The Second Reform---Access To Justice
Act 1999 (Current act of legal aid)
● Legal Service Commission( LSC) took over the LAC.
● Made great progress in the legal service quality.
Problems:
● The uncontrolled increase of spending.
£1.6b (1999) → £2b (2006)
● “The top of the legal aid legislation.”
II Legal aid reforms in the UK
The Third Reform---The Way Ahead (2006),
the Legal Services Act 2007
● Guarantee a sustainable legal aid system.
● Balance in the interests of clients, providers and the taxpayer.
● A competitive market based system:
Fixed and graduated fee schemes, standard contract, running
tenders.
●The Turning Point of Legal Aid
II Legal aid reforms in the UK
Controlled the budget successfully
CLS
CDS
CLS and CDS
spen
d
￡m
acts
m
each
act
spend
￡
2012
977.7
1.09
900
1,101
1.39
791
2,078
2.47
839
82.1
2011
985.4
1.25
791
1,130
1.47
769
2,115
2.71
779
99.2
2010
1,104
1.43
772
1,095
1.53
716
2,199
2.96
743
120.7
Year
spend
￡m
acts
m
each
act
spend
￡
total
spen
d
￡m
totle
acts
m
Each
act
spend
￡
Adminis
-tration
spend
￡
Note:
CLS: the Community Legal Service, includes contracted solicitors and
advice agencies which provide civil and family legal advice and representation.
CDS: Criminal Defence Service, provides legal advice and representation to
people being investigated or charged with a criminal offence.
II Legal aid reforms in the UK
II Legal aid reforms in the UK
The Fourth Reform: The Legal Aid,
Sentencing and Punishment of
Offenders Act 2012
● Focus on cases where legal help is most needed.
● Cut the legal aid bill by £350m a year by 2015.
● Major changes to the scope, eligibility and methods of
delivering legal aid in civil cases.
● In April 2013, LSC will be replaced by the Legal Aid Agency
– an Executive Agency of MoJ.
II Legal aid reforms in the UK
Different voices
Lawyer
They threatened to strike.
Not-for-profit
sectors
Extremely challenging, in “jeopardy” of
closing.
Pro bono
Less pro bono help for individuals.
Law schools
Students take up part-time voluntary roles as
community legal companions.
Court
Far too complex and obscure for those
representing themselves.
Clients
Preparing a case for appeal is skilled and
difficult.
Government
Hope to change the public's attitude.
We can’t afford the support.
III Legal aid in China
The history
● Legal aid was born in 1996 in China.
( Criminal Procedure Law 1996, Law on Lawyers 1996.)
● Regulation on Legal Aid 2003.
● Since 2009, legal aid cases has increased by an average
of 14.8 percent a year.
III Legal aid in China
The trend-----Expanding
● Reduce the client's economic limit; expand the scope of
civil case; increase subsidies standards to the providers; nolimited budget.
change
Financial
criteria
Before
Citizens with access to
social relief.
Citizens with income lower than
average annual minimum income.
Added: Education, medical
treatment, pollution, food and drug
safety.
Scope
Subsidies
to
providers
Now
£110 for a civil case.
£90 for each stage in a
criminal case.
Increased by 20 percent.
III Legal aid in China
What we are comparing
1 Legal aid scale
2 Legal aid service
3 Legal aid institutions
4 Legal aid providers
5 Civil legal aid remuneration
III Legal aid in China
1 Legal aid scale
2011
China
UK
Resource spend £m
12.77
2,115
Totle Acts of
assistance m
0.84
2.71
0.726
1.25
Civil acts m
Crime acts m
Per-capita expenditur
£
most related to:
employment,payment,
marriage,domestic
affairs
most related to:
Employment, debt,
housing
0.114
1.47
0.093
38
III Legal aid in China
2 Legal aid service
Legal aid matters
China
UK
Criminal matters
Advice, representation and
criminal defense
same
Civil matters
Representation, legal advice
same
Administrative matters
Representation, legal advice
same
Free confidential legal
advice online
Legal aid helpline: 12348,
run 24 hours,
answered by duty lawyers
Community Legal Advice helpline
:08453454345,
Some cities is testing the duty
lawyer scheme at police stations
from 2011
100% coverage of the duty solicitor
schemes at police stations and
magistrates’ courts
No
Provide independent advice,
assistance and representation on
criminal matters. There are
currently four PDS offices, 24 hours
a day, seven days a week. The first
salaried criminal legal aid provider
in England and Wales.
Duty solicitor
The Public Defender Service
(PDS)
III Legal aid in China
3 Legal aid institutions
China
UK
more than 3,200 governmental legal aid institutions.
one headquarter in London, and 13 division in
other areas.
national level: Legal Assistance Center.
under the Ministry of Justice.
supervise and coordinate legal assistance across the
country.
national level: Legal Services Commission（
LSC）, an independent non-governmental
department and responsible for Ministry of
Justice.
in charge of legal aid work.
Provinces lever: Legal-aid centers.
supervise and coordinate legal-aid work in their
respective jurisdiction.
Prefectures and cities lever:legal-aid centers.
administer and implement legal-aid programs in
their jurisdiction.
Counties and districts lever: set up legal-aid centers
where conditions permit.where conditions do not
permit, the Judicial Bureau of the counties and
districts should be responsible for legal aid.
III Legal aid in China
4 Legal aid providers
China
full-time publicemployed
lawyers(6,000)
private lawyers
(140,000)
30% of the cases
35% of the cases
basic legal service
workers(90,000)
32% of the cases
Legal aid volunteers of
some social
organizations, law
schools or law institutes
participate specific
legal aid work under
the organization and
direction of legal aid
institutions.
UK
solicitors
not for profit sectors
barristers
86.6% of civil
contracts(2,557 offices)
13.4% of civil
contracts(431 offices)
With solicitors , hold
100% crime contracts
(2,309 offices)
III Legal aid in China
5 Civil legal aid remuneration
China
UK
Category
Contracted fixed fee
Exceptional threshold
Clinical Negligence
￡213
￡639
Community Care
￡290
￡870
Consumer General Contract
￡174
￡522
Debt
￡196
￡588
Education
￡296
￡888
￡225
￡675
Housing
￡171
￡513
Miscellaneous
￡86
￡258
Personal Injury
￡204
￡612
Public Law
￡282
￡846
Welfare Benefits
￡164
￡492
Employment
£120--£180
IV Five Lessons
1 The principle of sustainable development.
2 Legislation to promote and consolidate the reform
achievement.
3 Wide consultation with stakeholders before making final
decision.
4 Advanced legal aid service quality methods.
5 Encouraging social organizations to take part in.
Thanks to Hilary Holland, Margaret Middleton,
Sarah Duxbury, Jeremy Wright!
Thank You!