LEGAL AID PRACTICES: COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVES

Abstract

This article, from the perspective of a legal aid practitioner, seeks to contribute to comparative analyses by discussing the prominent features of the legal aid systems in the United States, the United Kingdom, India, South Africa and Bangladesh. The broad parameters on which this exercise was based include the recognition of the constitutional right of access to justice, the models and types of legal services, the common concerns and challenges to providing effective access to justice in these countries and the responses to these challenges. The paper argues that the characterisation of the right to criminal legal aid as a non-derogable constitutional right is critical to its enforceability and availability. The paper suggests that reform proposals based on the need for accountability of the institutions that comprise the legal system, of which the legal services institutions form part, should include measures to enhance transparency, sharing of relevant information and ability to receive and deal with complaints. It concludes that there is a need, given the substantial “uncovered” and “unmet” areas of legal services, both by way of representation and by way of preventive and rehabilitative legal aid, to persist with more than one service provider and in more than one model.