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So the Government want to save £200M on legal aid... we all know that tired old story.

Now they want to make a PROFIT of £120 Million by raising civil fees by charging up to a maximum of £10,000?!?! So, the most severely injured - who have had NO legal aid for 20 years now have to find up to £10k? I have seen in other circles that the court service is already making a profit on the staggeringly high court fees.

Employment rights have been decimated by this government charging massive fees for discrimination claims - and remember no legal aid here either. These poor people who are usually jobless have to fork out hundreds, or up to a thousand or more. The claims have plummeted, that means a derogation of justice.

Legal Aid has gone for Divorce too - and a raft of other issues.
Bizarrely, Crime looks like the only one at the legal aid table, and we know how poorly that pays. So, further erosion to justice.

I just can't believe the latest proposals. When I started in law, 30 years ago, the small claims limit was £500. It's now £10,000. The costs liability means that most have no access to justice, as it would cost more, or the same to litigate - not helped by the court fees of course.

There was legal aid for everything - and green forms for quick advice. It was £50 or so to issue a writ, and no other fees.

This vile government, and it's predecessor have simply shafted the man in the street. They initially shifted the costs liability to the Solicitor, now hey're making the client pay too. The only winners seem to be insurers who have had all one way traffic save for QOCS - and that's an unknown entity.

I feel desperate at the latest news, this appalling tyranny against law, the public, and lawyers seems to be a relentless, spiteful attack that passes by under the title of austerity.

We next have a tapering of the JR system to seemingly make it more difficult to review these imbecilic ideas.

I now find myself logging onto the Gazette site with real trepidation. Sadly, I've learnt that this won't be the last of the Governments attempts to quell justice.