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.
Legal aid ‘decimated’ This week, one of the nation’s top news stories is a topic too often overlooked: the decimation of the Legal aid advice network. Legal disputes affect our homes, our families, our treatment as employees and more. They affect our very survival, for example when unwell or disabled people are left destitute after being…
This article by our chair, John Nicholson, was featured in Counsel Magazine, the monthly journal of the Bar of England and Wales. Extraordinary Working Lives: John Nicholson Free-access-to-justice campaigner John Nicholson recounts a day in the life as a legal aid lawyer operating in the hostile environment Waking in the early hours. Anxious…
We are pleased to announce that article below features in a two-page spread by Julia Baskerville in this month’s Law Society Messenger, and we will have our own monthly column from December onwards. Greater Manchester Law Centre opened its doors in Moss Side in August 2016 and was officially ‘launched’ in February 2017.…
We are pleased to be the focus of a feature article by Nick Nicholas Prescott in The Meteor, Manchester’s Independent Media, on the topic of Legal Aid and the wider context of austerity. With their permission we are publishing the full article here: How austerity is killing legal aid and restricting access to justice We often see…
A report published last week by the Joint Committee on Human Rights, Enforcing Human Rights, highlighted “grave concerns for access to justice, the rule of law, and enforcement of human rights in the UK” caused by cuts,[1] making enforcement of human rights “simply unaffordable” for some of the most vulnerable people.[2] The chair of the…
At the end of June this year, anti-poverty charity Zacchaeus 2000 Trust (Z2K) published a new report showing how the Government’s harsh policies are preventing disabled and unwell people from getting the disability payments they are entitled to. Mandatory Reconsideration When claimants are wrongly denied benefits after their assessment, they can have decision reviewed by requesting a Mandatory…
by GMLC Volunteer Joe Payne Law Centres Federation Limited v the Lord Chancellor [2018] EWHC 1588 (Admin) A recent High Court decision was deservingly won by the Law Centres Network (LCN) in a challenge to the Ministry of Justice’s (MoJ) Legal Aid policy, via Judicial Review. Judicial Review is a legal challenge to the way a…
A new policy statement by the Bar Standards Board states that pupil barristers will receive an award equivalent to the Living Wage. This is a significant victory for all who have expressed concerns that many cannot afford to make a career in law in sectors such as social welfare. After completing legal studies, aspiring barristers…
We are proud to announce that GMLC has been shortlisted for the Legal Aid Practitioners Group’s LALY Awards 2018 in the Legal Aid Firm/Not for Profit Agency category, sponsored by The Law Society. After the closure of South Manchester Law Centre in 2014 we said: if enough people wanted a law centre, there would be one.…
On Friday 20th April, the Greater Manchester Law Centre (GMLC) hosted a panel on the topic of Legal Aid and the Future of Free Access to Justice. Speakers included Richard Burgon, MP for Leeds East and Shadow Justice Secretary, Joe Mensah-Dankwah, Partner at Foresters Solicitors and board member of Black Solicitors Network, Siobhan Taylor-Ward, Young Legal Aid…