YLAL News

Ask your MP to protect the most the vulnerable in society by supporting legal aid and access to justice.

The Access to Justice Commission chaired by Labour peer Lord Bach released a damning interim report last week on “the crisis in the justice system of England and Wales”.

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.

Amnesty International say legal aid cuts have created two-tier justice that leaves the poorest and most vulnerable out in the cold, by Emma Fitzsimons

Amnesty International has released a blistering attack on the Government’s legal aid reforms, which has led to the creation of a two-tier justice system that is increasingly closed to the most vulnerable and those in need of protection.

Legal aid lawyers from across the country gathered in Leeds on Friday 7 October for the Legal Aid Practitioners Group (LAPG) annual conference. After an introduction by LAPG co-chair Nicola Mackintosh QC, the keynote speech was delivered by Liberty director Martha Spurrier on ‘human rights and unifying values’. Martha spoke about the impact of legal aid cuts as well as the ongoing scandal of indefinite immigration detention.