YLAL London Minutes - 14.06.2017

Carol Storer, the director of Legal Aid Practitioners Group (LAPG), joined us as a guest speaker to discuss what happens next for legal aid, following this month’s election. Ollie introduced Carol, noting that we had expected this meeting to be about the implications of a significant Conservative majority government. However, we now have a hung Parliament with a minority Conservative government, and a strengthened Labour party which is the most pro-access to justice in recent memory.

Carol covered a number of topics on upcoming challenges and opportunities, including:

General Election Event 2017 minutes

On Wednesday 10 May 2017, Young Legal Aid Lawyers (YLAL) held a pre-general election debate at Garden Court Chambers in London on Access to Justice After the Election, with representatives of the main political parties setting out their respective policies on legal aid and access to justice.

The panel consisted of:

APPG on Legal Aid - 17.1.2017

On 17 January 2017, The All Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs) on Legal aid, on Pro Bono and on Public Legal Education came together for the first time to host a conversation with Sir Oliver Heald QC, the Minister of State for Courts and Justice. YLAL jointly co-ordinates the APPG on Legal Aid with the Legal Aid Practitioners Group.

At the joint meeting, the Minister kicked off the meeting with a speech laying out the MoJ’s current priorities in this area:

1. Reform of the courts; 

Aspiring Solicitors & YLAL in Stoke on Trent: Networking & Introduction to Legal Aid 28.03.2017

"Insightful and practical; exactly what any aspiring lawyer needs to achieve success"

Jack Bizzell – Staffordshire University Student – LLB Hons Law 2 Year Fast Track

On 28 March 2017, Staffordshire University Law School was delighted to host a joint event between Young Legal Aid Lawyers (YLAL) and Aspiring Solicitors (AS). Nearly 80 people attended the event, including a number of solicitors and barristers from Stoke and Manchester.

YLAL South West 07.02.2017

We met at the University of Law, Bristol, on 7 February 2017 for our event 'Uncovering the truth behind deaths in custody', hearing from experts on the law and procedures that apply when individuals die in state detention.

Becoming a Legal Aid Lawyer

On Wednesday 9 November 2016, we held a careers event, 'Becoming a Legal Aid Lawyer', at London South Bank University. Young Legal Aid Lawyers co-chairs Oliver Carter and Rachel Francis presented an introduction to YLAL and a brief history of legal aid, from the Poor Prisoners Defence Act 1903, which introduced criminal legal aid for defendants in the higher criminal courts, to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 ('LASPO'), which wholly or partially removed a number of areas of law from the scope of legal aid.

YLAL North minutes 01.11.2016

On 1 November, YLAL North groups in Manchester and Sheffield heard from Lawyers Against Poverty about their exerience of the refugee crisis in Jordan. 

In June 2016, three solicitors embarked on a fact-finding mission to the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan as part of a Lawyers Against Poverty project.

YLAL Minutes 12.10.2016

At our last London meeting we heard from Mike McColgan from the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign about the need for a public, transparent, inquiry into the actions of the police against miners at Orgreave in June 1984. This is important to get truth and justice for the miners and families of those involved in the incident, to hold the state accountable in an open forum, to make sure that justice is done.

YLAL North (Liverpool): Minutes 22.09.2016

Making a Murderer, in the UK?

22nd Sept 2016

Chris Topping – Director of JC Group and civil rights, actions against the police and Inquests solicitor. Chris is also Chair of the Access to Justice Committee at Liverpool Law Society.

·         Lord McNally: “A plea to all the lawyers – those coming up and those already there. You have got to accept that bandying about access to justice, it’s really quite fraudulent.”

Politeia Legal Aid Event

On 14 September 2016, instead of holding a regular monthly meeting in London, we decided to attend an event held by the think tank Politeia on 'Legal Aid: Its Role in an Effective Justice System', featuring the former Minister for Legal Aid, Shailesh Vara MP. YLAL member Henry Gaster-Evans attended the talk and kindly provided this report.

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