Report comment

In essence the hatred for legal aid lawyers comes from the perception that legal aid is a gravy train, that legal aid is an unnecessary burden on the taxpayer and that the system can churn out justice without lawyers acting for parties to the proceedings.
In family cases the MoJ promotes mediation as a cheap, effective alternative by perpetuating the myth that lawyers drag clients through a court battle. The truth is that only about 8% of cases go to final hearing.
The MoJ and Judges and HMCTS and every other bugger repeat the party line that we have to work within the financial restraints of austerity without asking whether the system, if fully resourced, would deliver results beyond the merely financial.
Access to justice has a price. No one is willing to make the Government pay that price. A properly resourced justice system would deliver results beyond the cash accounting analysis of how much money was spent on it. Less waste. Real efficiency. Justice for all.