In February, the UK’s Ministry of Justice published their review of the latest round of cuts to legal aid that had been introduced by the coalition government via the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO). LASPO marked a new low in the story of legal aid policy. Rather than promising justice for all, legal aid is now reserved for “those who need it most” or the wealthy. It shows just how far the system has strayed from its original purpose.
It was a Tory grandee, Lord Rushcliffe, who was the architect of the system which the post-war Labour government established 70 years ago this year.
Rushcliffe was a former Conservative MP who had practiced as a barrister. In 1944 he was given the task of forming a committee to look at establishing a legal aid scheme. At this time there was a limited system of legal aid in serious criminal cases, but for all other matters paying for a lawyer’s help was out of reach of the vast majority of the population. The only recourse was to rely on services provided by the legal professions for free or as the lawyers call it, pro bono publico (a latin phrase meaning ‘in the public good’).
