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NLJ this week: A decade of LASPO devastation

26 May 2023
Issue: 8026 / Categories: Legal News , Legal aid focus , Rule of law , Legal services
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Ten years after LASPO—what’s the damage? In his column in this week’s NLJ, Jon Robins, vice chair of the Legal Action Group, assesses the state of access to justice in England and Wales, and finds it wanting. 

This is particularly true for Wales, where the whole of Wales apart from the very south and one practitioner in the north is ‘now devoid of publicly-funded help’.

Robins tracks the impact of the cuts, which have been devastating; driving legal aid lawyers out of the sector and leaving large gaps in provision where people with a clear need are simply unable to obtain legal advice, losing homes or employment or suffering some other injustice as a result. 

Read Robins' assessment in full here.

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Freeths—Ruth Clare

Freeths—Ruth Clare

National real estate team bolstered by partner hire in Manchester

Farrer & Co—Claire Gordon

Farrer & Co—Claire Gordon

Partner appointed head of family team

mfg Solicitors—Neil Harrison

mfg Solicitors—Neil Harrison

Firm strengthens agriculture and rural affairs team with partner return

NEWS
Conveyancing lawyers have enjoyed a rapid win after campaigning against UK Finance’s decision to charge for access to the Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has launched a recruitment drive for talented early career and more senior barristers and solicitors
Regulators differed in the clarity and consistency of their post-Mazur advice and guidance, according to an interim report by the Legal Services Board (LSB)
The dangers of uncritical artificial intelligence (AI) use in legal practice are no longer hypothetical. In this week's NLJ, Dr Charanjit Singh of Holborn Chambers examines cases where lawyers relied on ‘hallucinated’ citations — entirely fictitious authorities generated by AI tools
The Solicitors Act 1974 may still underpin legal regulation, but its age is increasingly showing. Writing in NLJ this week, Victoria Morrison-Hughes of the Association of Costs Lawyers argues that the Act is ‘out of step with modern consumer law’ and actively deters fairness
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