Access to Justice

There is an ever expanding twilight zone between those people who are eligible for legal aid and those who can afford to pay for private representation. The legal aid system artificially inflates the cost of legal services and people struggle to be able to afford private representation particularly on complex prosecutions. It is not a case of meeting the market for services because the market is distorted by government intervention. The twilight zone consists of those who for financial reasons try to represent themselves in Court. Inevitably justice is not served in those situations where a lay person is being prosecuted by a professional lawyer and tried by a professional judge. The only amateur is at the defence table. So rather than the reforms providing greater access to justice they are actually constricting access to justice. A constriction in access leads to an erosion of the rule of law. Of course a lack of legitimate participation leads to increased levels of desperation and is going to reduce the level of respect for all court processes.