Dear[your local MP]

We are a local Solicitor based in [your location].

We write to express our concerns regarding the Government’s recently announced Green Papers setting out a legal aid review and reforms to civil litigation costs, and how the proposals will affect your constituents.

About [your firm]

Here’s an example of the sort of thing you could say here.

For over [] years we have provided legally aided advice and representation in Immigration, Crime, Mental Health, Family, Housing and Actions Against the Police to people in Newcastle and further afield. [ ]% of our work is legally aided. Our clients include some of the most vulnerableand disadvantaged of your constituents.

We employ 100 peopleboth support staff and fee earners.

The Green Paper Proposals

The government plans to slash the Legal Aid budget by

  1. Taking legal aid away from these cases
  • Consumer and contract
  • Clinical negligence
  • Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority claims
  • Debt – unless the client’s home is at immediate risk
  • Education
  • Employment
  • Family Law except for care cases or for victims of domestic violence
  • Housing except for homelessness and serious disrepair threatening health
  • Immigration – where the client is not detained
  • Welfare Benefits

All these areas will be ‘removed from scope’ although exceptionally funding may be available for cases which raise human rights or public interest issues

  1. Limiting financial eligibility; only the poorest of the poor will be eligible for legal aid
  1. Cutting fees by 10% next year
  1. Introducing a telephone operator service as a gateway for anyone needing advice.
  1. Introducing alternative sources of funding i.e.
  • Using interest from solicitors’ client accounts to fund legal aid.
  • Introducing a supplementary Legal Aid Scheme
  • Encouraging before the event legal expenses insurance

How this will affect your constituents

Many of your constituents will not have access to justice. Effective access to justice is of course essential to underpin the rule of law but what this will mean for the poorer people in [your location] is;

  • A mother who’s ex-partner threatens to take their children abroad cannot get legal advice to apply for a court order to prevent this
  • A father who does not see his children cannot be legally represented to apply for a contact order to keep their relationship going
  • A wife with a learning disability will have to manage her divorce paper work without legal advice.
  • Someone facing deportation cannot be advised on possible appeals
  • A tenant living in squalid but not life threatening conditions cannot get legal advice to force the landlord to repair their home, a green light for rogue landlords
  • Everyone will have to ring a telephone helpline to get what legally aided advice remains; they cannot simply contact a trusted or recommended solicitor.
  • There will be fewer legal solicitors left for those who are still entitled to legal aid to consult.
  • The courts will be under huge strain from Litigants in Person which will lead to an increase in the cost ofthe courts service.

Where will people turn to for advice? The cuts will remove funding from Not for Profit advice agencies as well as solicitors. Your constituent’s first and only port of call is likely to be you and your surgery.

The Government argues that legal aid encourages people to go to court when they do not need to. In particular they say that family disputes should be resolved in mediation. There are many reasons why this is a naive assumption and we welcome the chance to explain this in more detail in a meeting with you.

Why the cuts are wrong

  • The cuts don’t have to be made; it is a political choice to cut legal aid, not a necessity.
  • The Legal Aid budget has been frozen in cash terms since 2004 despite massive increases in the volume of cases lawyers have had to handle. It accounts for less than one third of one percent of public expenditure, or one third of the annual increase in the health service budget.
  • The impact assessment shows the cuts will have a greater impact on women and the BAME community as 59% of legal aid clients are female and 26% BAME
  • The focus should be on reducing complex laws and procedures to help reduce the cost of justice.
  • Alternative sources of income such as a levy on the financial services or alcohol industry to cover the cost of fraud casesalcohol-fuelled crime and disorder should be considered.
  • There will be many knock on effects of these cuts leading to increased costs in other parts of the justice system and health and social services.
  • The purpose of legal aid is to ensure that nobody is unable to enforce or defend their rights for want of the resources to do so.
  • Legal aid clients are some of the most vulnerable in society and good legal representation where required is essential if they are to obtain justice
  • These reforms will seriously undermine access to justice and the rule of law that is the bedrock of a civilised society; it will be much more difficult for ordinary people to have recourse to the courts to right wrongs.

What we ask you to do

  • Please meet us to discuss the proposals in the review and what this will mean for the people of Newcastle. We will be happy to host a meeting at our office or meet you at a constituency surgery. We would like to discuss how we can support you in raising this issue within Parliament and in lobbying the Government through the Ministry of Justice.

We look forward to hearing from you

Yours sincerely