HCLC News

The JusticeGap together with Hackney Community Law Centre (HCLC) is hosting a debate at the House of Commons on the role of the advice sector in communities in the context of forthcoming legal aid cuts.

The debate will be chaired by Jon Robins, HCLC Patron and editor of the www.thejusticegap.com. The panelists include:

• Diane Abbott, HCLC Patron and MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, and shadow health minister
• Lord Willy Bach, the former justice secretary who led the opposition to LASPO in the Lords
• Sir Geoffrey Bindman, human rights solicitor and founder of Bindmans LLP
• Matthew Ryder QC, Matrix Chambers
• Roger Smith, Director of Justice

"I genuinely believe “access to justice” is the hallmark of a civilised society.’ It was with those words that the justice secretary, Ken Clarke, introduced his government’s legal aid reforms. The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders (LASPO) Act promises to slash Ј350m from a Ј2.1bn budget – the cuts start in April 2013. It will achieve this by removing large swathes of social welfare law – housing, welfare benefits, employment and immigration – and family advice. In the context of the LASPO cuts:

• What do we mean by ‘access to justice’?
• Is the law for the rich?
• What future is there for the legal advice sector and their largely poor and vulnerable clients?
• Are local communities like Hackney getting the justice they deserve?

Join us on Thursday July 12th 2012 at 6.30pm in Committee Room 15 in the main Palace of Westminster to debate these important issues. Please reserve your place by emailing miranda@hclc.org.uk Tickets are limited – only two tickets per applicant.

More info on the Justice Gap website HERE.