Lord Chancellor's Legal Aid Advisory Committee: Report on Extension of Legal Aid...

This series consists of written evidence submitted to the Lord Chancellor's Legal Aid Advisory Committee on the extension of legal aid for tribunals' proceedings received from tribunals, government departments, judges, law societies and other organizations, and members of the legal profession.

Topics

Litigation

The Legal Aid Advisory Committee was first constituted under Section 13 (1) of the Legal Aid and Advice Act, 1949 which aimed to make legal aid and advice in England and Wales more readily available to persons of small and moderate means. This service was extended by the Legal Aid and Assistance Act 1972, which established an Advisory Liaison Service to co-ordinate the work of the Law Society and social agencies such as the Citizens' Advice Bureau. The question of legal aid for proceedings before tribunals had already been considered by the committee and its 17th Report, published in July 1968, concluded that legal aid was necessary for proceedings before the Lands Tribunal and in December 1972 it was also made available in proceedings before the Commons Commisioners.

In accordance with the provisions of Section 21 (3) of the Legal Aid Act 1974, the committee considered the Law Society's Report on the operation and finance of the Legal Aid and Advice Acts, 1949-1972. A working paper was circulated in June 1973 inviting comments. Having taken all the evidence, both written and oral, into account, the committee recommended that legal aid should be extended to all statutory tribunals at present within the supervision of the Council on Tribunals and to the Patents Appeal Tribunal. These finding were published on November 20th in the 24th Report of the Lord Chancellor's Advisory Committee.