There's a
fantastic piece in legal aid cuts in the LRB here, for anyone who's interested:
https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v35/n11/francis-fitzgibbon/s...It's obviously specific to the UK, but lots of the broader points are applicable anywhere (especially in the US, where the provisions whose loss he's writing about are provisions people have simply never had).
Arguably the most painful, cringe-inducing part is this one:
> The restrictions on legal aid are already leading to an increase in the number of people representing themselves in courts and tribunals. This has caused the Bar Council to publish A Guide to Representing Yourself in Court. It opens unpromisingly:
>> The law can be very complicated. This guide explains things as clearly and as briefly as possible, but will only give you an overview of what you need to do if you have a civil law legal problem. This means we have had to miss bits out – bits that are likely to affect what the law would say about your own situation. So please do not rely on any of the examples used in this guide.
And also this very important observation:
> A civil case, let’s say something complex to do with a tenancy agreement, may well take twice as long in court with a self-represented litigant. The savings on lawyers’ already modest legal aid fees hardly count for much when the cost of running a single courtroom at the Old Bailey is estimated at £10,000 a day. [...] The conclusion must be that this legislation has nothing to do with saving money.