Legal Aid and Civil Cost Reform Debate

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Department: Ministry of Justice

Legal Aid and Civil Cost Reform

Gareth Johnson Excerpts
Monday 15th November 2010

(13 years, 6 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Lord Clarke of Nottingham Portrait Mr Clarke
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That question was asked more frequently many years ago. The exclusive rights of audience in the higher courts were lost some years ago. There are now quite a lot of solicitor advocates. I am not sure whether the shadow spokesman, the right hon. Member for Tooting (Sadiq Khan), was a solicitor advocate, but he could have been if he had wanted to be. The profession is not as closed as it used to be. Changes are about to take place on new business structures for legal practice of all kinds, which will produce a considerable transformation in some areas of legal practice. We are in a far more competitive situation than we used to be.

Gareth Johnson Portrait Gareth Johnson (Dartford) (Con)
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As a practising solicitor, I welcome this long-overdue full review of the legal aid system. Will my right hon. and learned Friend reassure the House that we will retain a key principle of the criminal justice system, which is that no one who faces the realistic prospect of imprisonment and who cannot themselves afford to pay will be refused legal assistance?

Lord Clarke of Nottingham Portrait Mr Clarke
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Yes is the best and most straightforward answer to that. My hon. Friend underlines an absolutely fundamental principle of justice in any civilised society, so the answer is an emphatic affirmative.