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GAZETTE
SEPTEMBER 1981
Access to Justice and Legal
Aid
The State of Play
by
Ann Fitzgerald, Solicitor.
I
N R E C E NT times there has been a strong movement in
ma ny countries to provide effective access to justice.
S ome critics have been concerned to eliminate the cost
barrier only while others have realised that
financial
considerations do not consititute the sole deterrent to the
full use of the legal system by the poor and under-
privileged. Frequently, the law is seen by the poor as an
evil to be avoided at all c o s t s, not as a we a p on to enforce
and protect basic rights, in view of the lack of
involvement in the law-making process by the less
powerful sections of our society, the poor themselves tend
to recognise only traditional legal problems as worthy of
attention.
One American c omme n t a t or put it simply thus: "Poor
people are not just like rich people without mo n e y . "
1
It
could be said that a legal aid mo v eme nt must therefore
involve s ome missionary effort. It must aim to reach those
wh o have never had a c c e ss to the legal system. These
people must be taught to use the law and the law must be
revised and simplified for them. Lawyers must mo ve into
more convenient offices — where are most solicitors'
offices found in Co r k? — and learn about the problems of
poverty while working to expand the legal system out
wards.
In a seminal study of three Lo nd on boroughs, it was
found that as ma ny as 11% of those queried replied that
they never g o to a lawyer, while 4 5% preferred a
lawyer who normally acted for "people like them-
selves."
2
Lawyers are generally ill-equipped to advise on
j ob rights, social welfare and housing problems; in fact,
any lawyer who qualified in this country before 1 9 70 will
have had no formal training in a vital subject like family
law. Although law courses are improving, the emphasis
remains on property and commercial matters. Ralph
Nader, the U . S. Pioneer of 'Bringing Law to the People'
has said that lawyers are educated " . . . in a highly
sophisticated form o f mind control that trades breadth of
vision for the freedom to r o am in an intellectual c a g e . "
3
The first attempt in this country to provide a free legal
service to those unable to afford a lawyer c ame from the
law students themselves. In 1 9 6 9, a voluntary advice-
giving organisation b a c k ed up by qualified professionals,
w a s set up in both Cork and Dublin. (For reasons that are
not relevant here, the Cork and Dublin groups have re
mained separate and the latter, due no doubt to its larger
size, has been more vocal over the years). In Dublin,
responding to pressure from local groups and demand for
the service, F . L . A . C. (The Free Legal Advice Centres
Limited) expanded rapidly to a total of 16 centres in the
city by 1979. Each centre opened on one evening per
week, yet despite the limited service, F . L . A . C. had
handled some 3 2 , 0 0 0 cases by August 1 9 79 (with
2 4 , 0 0 0 of these from 1 9 7 5 - 7 9 ). It b e c ame clear that the
Government was content to see law students carry the
legal aid burden and so, in 1 9 73 F . L . A . C. threatened to
withdraw. This produced a £ 5 , 0 0 0 grant, from the
Department of Justice. In the following year, F . L . A . C.
continued the bluff and o n ce again the Government
capitulated — in July, 1 9 7 4, the Pringle Committee w as
set up '. . . to advise on the introduction, at an early date,
of a comprehensive s c h eme for legal aid and advice in
civil matters. . . ."
F . L . A . C. then decided, in 1 9 7 5, to open Ireland's first
community law centre, to afford a model for the Pringle
Committee's
findings.
The selection of Co o l o c k, on
Dublin's northside, as the location was no accident. It is
a poor urban area comprising predominantly Local
Authority housing built since the early ' 6 0 s. Successful
and influential prototypes were provided by the U . S.
Legal Services P r o g r amme set up in conjunction with the
'War on Poverty' in 1 9 65 and by the U . K . 'Neighbour-
h o od Law Centres,' the first of which was set up in North
Kensington, a working-class area of West London, in the
summer of 1 9 7 0, operating from a converted butcher's
shop. As originally conceived, a " L aw Centre" should be
found in the heart (if there is o ne of a poor area - the
Co o l o ck centre is in the Northside Shopping Centre -
concerning itself not only with individual clients but with
recurring problems in the neighbourhood. There is small
point tackling the s ame landlord on behalf of, say, three
separate clients when a lawyer could equally act on behalf
of the inhabitants of a wh o le street to the same end. The
centre should open outside normal business hours
providing a relaxed and open atmosphere. Local people
would have a say in the running of the centre via a
Ma n a g eme nt Commi t t ee — a law centre cannot other-
wise offer a c ommun i ty service. The lawyer should be
freed from concern about his or her o wn income; rather,
funding should c ome from central government or a
charitable trust — hence the term 'salaried lawyer.'
Ow i ng to the lack of private solicitors' offices in the
area and the absence, until recently, of any free legal aid
scheme, the Co o l o ck Commu n i ty Law Centre has carried
a heavy caseload. Th us the one solicitor employed has
dealt with over 3 , 5 0 0 cases during the period 1 9 75 7 9.
Nonetheless, to achieve s ome balance a "law officer" (a
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