Former Supreme Court president slams decades of shrinking legal aid

Ex-Supreme Court president warns rule of law at risk as legal aid falls behind inflation

The former president of the Supreme Court, Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury, has criticised the failure of successive governments to raise legal aid rates in line with inflation, warning that ordinary people are being left behind by the justice system.

Speaking at the Central Criminal Court during the inaugural event of the Justice for All lecture series, organised by the City of London, Lord Neuberger said that access to lawyers was a fundamental requirement for the rule of law but was increasingly restricted by cost and underfunding.

“We live in a world where the law is increasingly complex, so access to independent, properly trained lawyers is an ever more essential ingredient,” he said. “Legal experts are needed to advise and speak for individuals and companies and to assist judges when it comes to identifying, interpreting and applying the law. If access to lawyers for advice and representation in courts is restricted to the rich or the few, you do not really have the rule of law.”

Lord Neuberger, who also previously served as Master of the Rolls, said England and Wales still had “much to be proud of” in its commitment to democracy and the rule of law. “Without the rule of law, society would either fall apart or be downtrodden,” he said, adding that the independence of the judiciary — and its unelected status — was essential to maintaining public confidence. “Long may that continue,” he said.

However, Lord Neuberger warned that while high-value civil cases remained well-served by the legal system, the situation for ordinary citizens in civil and family disputes was far less satisfactory. “When it comes to ordinary people caught up in the criminal, civil or family justice systems, we are in a much less satisfactory situation and we ought to be doing much better,” he told the audience.

“In contrast with high-value civil cases where legal costs are rarely crucial, the plight of ordinary people with ordinary problems in civil and family cases is disturbing.”

While acknowledging “some recent improvements in hearing times in family cases,” Lord Neuberger said they still “take far too long.” He added that it was “hard to rejoice” in this year’s small increase in legal aid rates when support for civil and family law had been “progressively shrunk in both scope and quantum over the past 30 years.”

“Legal aid for advice and representation in civil and family cases, which was barely adequate in 1996, has been steadily eroded,” he said. “Behind these figures lies a strong likelihood of people with rights not being aware of them or not having the ability or courage to seek to enforce them. When justice systems are seen as inaccessible or serving just a few, frustration, disillusionment and discontent follow, which can have significant consequences.”

The senior judge also questioned the vast sums spent on public inquiries, suggesting that “hundreds of millions of pounds” could be redirected towards strengthening the justice system itself. “While at least some public inquiries are plainly necessary, the whole structure needs to be reconsidered so they can be conducted much more cheaply and much more quickly,” he said.

Lord Neuberger also addressed delays in the Crown Court, warning that persistent backlogs and postponements were not “consistent with the rule of law.”

He gave his backing to proposals put forward by Sir Brian Leveson, which included the possibility of juryless trials in complex fraud cases. “Objections on the basis of a notional right to a jury trial are misconceived,” he said. “The great majority of criminal cases are already not decided by juries. There is no suggestion of removing juries generally from the criminal justice system, and there certainly should be no such suggestion.”

Lord Neuberger’s remarks come amid renewed debate about access to justice and concerns from the Law Society and other bodies that years of underfunding have left the rule of law under increasing strain.