The GMLC grew out of a protest against cuts to services offering free legal advice and representation. In recent years the right to legal aid has been subject to permanent assault by successive governments. As a result people have been left without advice and support when they need it most, putting them at the risk of poverty, homelessness and unemployment. On this page you can find out all the latest news from the struggle to restore legal aid.
We have been working with journalist Ruth F Hunt to shed light on the lack of legal aid in austerity Britain. We thank Ruth for this important work and for recent coverage in the Morning Star – see the full article here. Excerpts of the article are summarised and re-posted here with permission. Legal aid is…
Young Legal Aid Lawyers and the All Parliamentary Group on Legal Aid’s joint campaign #TakeYourMPToWork has seen MP’s across the country get up close and personal with the reality of legal aid provision. Last week Kate Green, MP for Stretford and Urmston spent the day with GMLC learning about the effect of legal aid cuts in…
Legal Aid has been in the spotlight. Headlines have lamented the closure of half of all law centres and not-for-profit legal advice services and lawyers, politicians, community groups and campaigners have reflected on the 70-year anniversary of the introduction of legal aid. The devastating news broke that Lambeth Law Centre is closing after several decades…
By Brocho Nemetsky Brocho is a volunteer at the GMLC. She is interested in learning about our rights, and helping others to do the same. She works as a paralegal at Brian Barr Solicitors, and hopes to work as a Barrister. On 5 November 2018, Philip Alston, the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty…
In April 2019, we released our manifesto, declaring that we will not allow legal aid cuts to be the death of the social welfare lawyer. We said: “We strive to be a home for passionate law students, advisers, activists and social welfare lawyers committed to using the law to fight for social justice.” Legal education…
Victims of unlawful discrimination are increasingly being prevented from enforcing their rights because of cuts to legal aid, according to an inquiry by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). The report released this week laid bare the chronic lack of advice and representation, as it emerged that between 2013 and 2018 fewer than…
We will not allow legal aid cuts to be the death of the social welfare lawyer. We fight for the restoration of legal aid, and we are a home for aspiring lawyers who are committed to access to justice. We seek to inspire and encourage the next generation of lawyers to pursue social welfare law,…
GMLC volunteer Alex Feery puts legal aid cuts in context, by challenging the presumptions and attitudes framing debates on access to justice. The Government’s operating assumption behind legal aid policy has been for some time that the public is too eager to resort to the courts. It has denounced ‘unnecessary adversarial litigation’.[1] Individuals with…
Earlier this year, our volunteers reviewed the Legal Aid statistics published by Ministry of Justice and Legal Aid Agency, which indicate that the number of solicitor firms providing civil Legal Aid in the North West have fallen by roughly 34.2% from 2011-2012 to 2017-2018, expenditure for not for profits providing Legal Aid has fallen by roughly…
On Thursday, 11th April, we launched our manifesto at a public event. The event was packed. 150 people were in attendance: students, advisers, lawyers and community groups, old and new friends. The full manifesto can now be downloaded here. Norma Turner, one of GMLC’s founders, chaired the event and speakers included GMLC Patron and human rights lawyer Robert…