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I have always specialised in WB work, spanning 25 years. I now take phone calls daily from extremely vulnerable clients whose cases are out of scope of legal aid. In fact since 2013 the reality is that 98% of WB cases are now out of scope!

The clients ask me where they can go for help. I suggest CAB and they tell me, they've already been and CAB can't assist.

I am ashamed to tell them that I am sorry but we cannot assist as we are already doing thousands of pounds worth of pro bono work. For example, we helped one client with a WB case which was within the 2% of cases still in scope. We were paid a fixed fee of £208 for hours and hours of work over a 2 year period which totalled more than £2,800. The client won. We did not, having lost 90% of our fees!

When the service is gone altogether, the politicians will say lawyers no longer wanted to do this work. The reality is that some of us are still trying to help but the amount of pro bono work is strangling.

Unfortunately it is clients who will suffer the most when there are no WB services left. Access to Justice for our most vulnerable clients' WB cases is almost extinct!