Provision of legal services - access to justice

Access to Justice Act 1999	The 1999 Act was the biggest reform of the ELS for at least 50 years. It covered both civil and criminal elements of the legal system. There were many major changes in… • The way the legal system serves the public. • The access the public has to justice. • Revolution of legal aid.
Role of the Legal Services Commission	The Legal Services Commission now oversees two services. 1. The Community Legal Advice. 2. Criminal Defence Service. The Legal Services Commission replaced the Legal Aid Board.
Contracts	The Community Legal Advice and the Criminal Defence Service purchase legal services on contract only from skilled lawyers and other providers. These fixed price contracts are intended to make the legal system more efficient and competitive.
The unmet need	The force for change comes from Lord Irvine’s contention that there is.... "A vast unmet need for Legal Services in Britain".
	"Think of all those people who have no real access to justice because they do not qualify for legal aid but dare not risk the costs of going to law to protect their rights."
Focussed allocation	The Legal Services Commission is aimed at focusing state funding of legal services on those who need it most.
Key Principles
1. Conditional Fee Arrangements	"No win no fee". The lawyer gets nothing if he/she does not win. People can insure against paying the other side’s costs. Many people make the mistake of thinking this is "No win no cost". Many people are surprised at the lack of compensation they eventually receive because of costs and disbursements (lawyer's costs such as postage and travelling). In successful cases the applicant should recover the success fee and any related insurance premium.
2. Funding of Legal Services	Community Legal Advice ensures that every community has access to lawyers of consistently good quality. The Community Legal Advice works with other advice services (for example the Citizens Advice Bureaux) to develop plans - Local and National - to match the provision of Legal Services with identified needs.
Web portal failed	The much vaunted legal services website which was intended to be an advice portal appears to have failed. http://www.justask.org.uk/
Flexible funding assessment	Assessment helps to decide whether there are better ways of resolving disputes such as Mediation. (See ADR revision document.) Reasonable Person criterion has been implemented, which basically asks.... • Would a reasonable person be prepared to spend money on this legal issue. If the answer is "no" then legal aid is not granted.
	Public Money is directed at the most deserving cases. Priority cases dealt with first such those dealing with children or social welfare.
3. Criminal Defence Service	Private sector lawyers provide publicly funded criminal defence work. Every 'contract' has a quality assurance and prices for contracts would be fixed. Fixed Prices as incentive to avoid delay and rewards efficient practice. Those who are convicted and can pay, will no be forced to pay following the Scottish model. Conditional Fees fairer are not used in criminal cases.
4. Appeals	New jurisdiction of courts to hear appeals in civil and family cases. The main objective being to allow the courts to deal with appeals once at the right level so that only the most complex cases go to the court of Appeal. In essence the Crown and High Courts can be appeal courts. Some High Court judges now hear certain criminal cases. Lay magistrates are no longer required to sit as judges on cases committed to the Crown Court for sentence.
Conclusion	The reforms eliminate unnecessary cost, delay and complexity in the civil justice system. A key element is the Civil Justice Procedure Rules, which form the backbone of a new procedural code. The Rules enable the courts to deal with cases justly.
Fees for court action	In September 2005, the Lord Chancellor’s Department announced significant rises in fees charged to people who use the courts. It is another move towards making the courts pay their way. The family proceedings courts increased fees by 650 per cent. An order seeking contact with a child in care now costs £150, seven times the previous cost of £20. A council tax liability order in the magistrates’ court rose from 70p to £3. These increases produced additional revenue of over £5 million. Some fees had not risen since 1993.