Baroness criticises cuts to free legal help

A justice in the Supreme Court has made a speech in which she criticised the government's cuts to free legal help.

Baroness Brenda Hale said that if people cannot access justice, society will be the loser.

Lady Hale spoke to the Law Society in a speech called Equal Access to Justice in the Big Society.

She noted during the 2011 Sir Henry Hodge Memorial Lecture that the cuts to free legal help will have more of an effect on ethnic minorities, women and those with disabilities, which she said the government's equality impact statement admits.

"My rather pessimistic conclusion is that we cannot look at access to the courts and access to lawyers in isolation from one another," she added.

Furthermore, Roger Smith, director of campaign group Justice, also criticised the government's cuts, saying that they will result in only the rich being able to afford lawyers and access the courts.

Published by Hannah Carr