Law Society launches Access to Justice campaign

The Law Society has launched its new Access to Justice campaign, aiming to “defend the rule of law in an environment where legal advice is becoming more expensive and difficult to obtain”.

The campaign’s key goals include raising public awareness of where help is still available and influencing the government in its implementation of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (LASPO). Law Society president Andrew Caplan said: "There needs to be a debate about access to justice, wider than just the responsibility of government. Up to 600,000 people have lost the ability to access civil legal aid. Without access to justice we are all the poorer. A great responsibility falls upon the government, but it also falls upon the general public as well."

Lord Chief Justice Thomas and the Law Society’s head of legal aid, Richard Miller, were also at the launch. Lord Thomas said: “The next two years are going to be extremely tough in terms of financial expenditure. I would see access to justice as a campaign to try and persuade people that justice matters... You have a real fight on your hands, but a fight is always a nice thing to have when the cause is just and justice is a just cause."

The launch came on the same day as a judicial review challenge started in the High Court, brought by the London Criminal Courts Solicitors' Association and the Criminal Law Solicitors' Association. They say that a Ministry of Justice review and consultation process on the swingeing legal aid cuts was unlawful. Lord Chancellor Chris Grayling is named as the defendant in the hearing and has been accused of relying on “bluff and bully” tactics.

Jason Coppel QC, on behalf of the solicitors, said the changes "put the criminal justice system at risk" and that the “very likely consequence is that hundreds of small firms will go out of business”.