The efforts of pro bono lawyers are heroic but show the legal aid system is broken, says judge

Public-spirited lawyers undertaking long, complex cases for free are the only people filling the “gaping holes in the fabric of legal aid”, a High Court judge has said.

Mr Justice Williams made the remarks in a difficult appeal case concerning a mother and father contesting the custody of a child, in which both parties were represented by lawyers who volunteered their time and expertise for free. As the Law Gazette reports, Williams compared these selfless lawyers to Boxer the horse in the George Orwell novel, Animal Farm – in the book, the loyal and hardworking horse works until he collapses and is then sold to the slaughterhouse by the ruling pigs who took advantage of him.

Williams said: “That counsel for the father and for the mother should appear pro bono in such a complex case as this is in the finest traditions of the legal profession. Up and down the country, counsel, solicitors and legal executives fill the gaping holes in the fabric of legal aid in private law cases because of their commitment to the delivery of justice.

“Without such public-spirited lawyers, how would those such as the father and mother in this case navigate the process and present their cases? How judges manage to deliver justice to the parties and an appropriate judgment for the child without such assistance in cases like this begs the question. It is a blight on the current legal aid system that cases such as this do not attract public funding. So far removed from the stereotyped ‘fat cat’, the legal profession in cases such as this are more akin to Boxer in George Orwell's Animal Farm, always telling themselves ‘I will work harder’."