The Justice Gap: whatever happened to legal aid?

On 30 July 1949, the Legal Aid and Advice Act was granted royal assent with the intention of ensuring that anyone who needed legal advice would be able to access it. In this timely book the authors describe the origins and history of legal aid as well as New Labour’s attempts to reform the system years on. They argue that on its 60th anniversary legal aid has fallen short of its original aims. There exists a marked difference between the numbers of cases pursued to enforce rights and the many potential cases that people never take up as they are either not aware of their rights or they decide it is not worth the trouble to take it further – this is ‘the justice gap’. Publication of The Justice Gap coincides with the 60-year anniversary of legal aid, which will have high-profile celebrations across the legal world by, for example, the Legal Services Commission, the Bar Council and the Law Society. LAG will also be running a national conference, 'Legal aid at 60 - bridging the justice gap', twinned with this publication that will be heavily promoted through the legal media.

Though UK legal aid is arguably the best funded in the world the authors illustrate that the public are not being well served by the current system which has emerged from the recent reforms. They clearly articulate the necessary, essential reforms to bridge the justice gap that has been created and also to bring into reality the intentions of the original Act. This title will be of great interest to all legal aid practitioners and commentators and an essential purchase for policy-makers and students across the legal and social policy sectors.