Date Passed: 18th February
Speaker: Thomas Renhard
1. Legal Aid can be defined as “payment from public funds allowed, in cases of need, to help pay for legal advice or proceedings.” (http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/legal-aid)
2. The Ministry of Justice are proposing to reduce Legal Aid by £220 million annually by 2018 (http://www.theguardian.com/law/2013/sep/18/liberal-democrats-legal-aid-cuts).
1. Access to Legal Aid is a fundamental need of an individual that cannot afford to hire a more costly lawyer.
2. Freedom of choice of a lawyer is hugely important and the reduction in legal aid funding risk removing client choice.
3. This will impact on our students looking to get representation from a lawyer with a specific skillset i.e. in the event of a student arrested at a protest wanting access to a lawyer with a strong record in this area.
4. It could have a hugely detrimental impact on aspiring law students looking to go into this area of work.
5. The Law Society is currently reviewing their tactics in tackling the proposed changes
1. To release a statement in support of the defence of Legal Aid. The statement will affirm the importance of access to Legal Aid for some of the hardest hit in our local and student communities and affirm the right of legally-aided defendants to choose their lawyer.
2. To work with the National Law Society and student law societies to campaign against the cuts being made to Legal Aid and defend the right of those that can’t afford a lawyer access to good legal advocacy with freedom of choice.
3. To lobby for the creation of a campaigns toolkit by NUS that can be used by Students’ Unions to support the campaign in defence of Legal Aid.
4. To ask the NUS to lobby the government against its current position on Legal Aid.
5. To send this motion to NUS National Conference 2014.
6. To lobby for access to legal aid for all students at universities.