The Legal Services Consumer Panel chose Halloween, one of the days of the dead, to hold a conference on unmet legal need. Given the dire state of legal aid— which can truly be described as eviscerated—the panel may have revealed more than it intended by its choice of subject. Whatever the origin of the event, some interesting issues emerged.
The first point is why a regulator has any interest in the topic. You might think its point is to impose standards on what is being provided—a role ex post facto—rather than as instigator. The panel has a number of answers to this. After all, improvement of access to justice is included in regulators’ statutory duties. More generally, all regulators are subject to the Public Sector Equality Duty. Further, various suggestions for reform might require regulation. But the essential reason is probably that, with the abolition of the Legal
