Introduction to Legal Aid

On Wednesday 11 November 2015, we hosted a special ‘Introduction to Legal Aid’ event at Garden Court Chambers in London. We were delighted to see a packed room of about 55 people, mostly students attending their first YLAL event or meeting. The PowerPoint presentation delivered at the event by our co-chairs, Ollie and Rachel, is attached below.

Rachel and Ollie provided an introduction to YLAL and what we do as an organisation and then presented a history of legal aid and access to justice from Magna Carta, the creation of the post-war welfare state through to the present day and the impact of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO). We also showed two short films about legal aid which were made in the last few years as part of the Justice Alliance campaign against legal aid cuts.

Finally, Rachel, Ollie and YLAL committee members Heather, Deena and Phil spoke about their careers so far and the day-to-day work they do in legal aid in areas such as crime, family, immigration, community care, public law, actions against the police and inquests.

Thank you to everyone who came to the event!

Acknowledgements for the presentation:
The Justice Gap, by Steve Hynes and Jon Robins
Unequal before the law, edited by Jon Robins
FullFact.org