Making a mockery of justice Tuckers, the defence firm representing a convicted killer who has absconded, denied being ‘professional embarrassed’ following an outcry over the granting of legal aid for his appeal – as reported in the Justice Gap here. Jack Shepherd was found guilty in his absence in July last year of the manslaughter
UCL is conducting research into how social welfare law problems can damage health, and how doctors and lawyers can work together to help make people better. Fiona Bawdon explains. Fiona is head of communications at The Legal Education Foundation. The man had been in hospital for weeks and weeks, after making what his doctor described
There are already 15 people at the foodbank at St Matthew’s Church, just off the busy Wandsworth Bridge Road, South Fulham by the time we arrive shortly after doors open. Volunteer Sue is on hand to make sure everyone receives a cheery welcome and a hot cuppa as they wait to pick up their emergency
A disappearing fig leaf The MoJ has published the latest quarterly stats. The Law Centres Network’s head policy Nimrod Ben-Cnaan tweeted his thoughts: the civil scheme continued to shrink; and the spend on social welfare dropped 9% to £33m and the last quarter revealed 7% less housing cases than the year before and, as he
A key indicator of a society that is not working for the individual stakeholder is that people from more economically deprived backgrounds are locked out from accessing public institutions that wealthier people enjoy access to. This isn’t a controversial or excessive need, a vast majority of people would agree that this is the least they
The reforms to legal aid in England and Wales have been the subject of significant controversy since their implementation under the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders (LASPO) Act in April 2013. In my recently completed doctoral research, I examined the ways in which this has marked a fundamental shift in how different people
Justice in a time of austerity The BBC’s home affairs correspondent Dominic Casciani made an unpleasant discovery at the Royal Courts of Justice. ‘The dead rat is still there,’ he tweeted. He couldn’t attach a photo because ‘that’s a breach of the law banning filming in courts’. ‘So here, for the one and only time,
The shadow justice minister has promised to commit a Labour government to reinstating legal aid for benefits appeals as soon as it takes power. Writing for the Guardian yesterday, Labour MP Richard Burgon wrote that out of all the cuts to legal aid, ‘the slashing of advice for ill and disabled people unfairly denied their
The great fallacy of mandatory sentencing laws is the thought that being tough on crime will deter people from committing crimes in the first place. This is an attractive prospect, as legal professionals and policymakers we strive to see less people incarcerated and going through the criminal legal system. Yet as Ed Davey MP, the
A change is coming The government has found an extra £23m spending for barristers’ trial fees in serious criminal cases – reported the BBC at the weekend. In April, the MoJ introduced changes to the Advocates’ Graduated Fee Scheme. ‘The new system, along with existing concerns, prompted a period of industrial action by some criminal
