Footnotes and references
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Justice and the Poor was an article on law and ethics first published in 1919, promoting the concept of free legal assistance for the poor. It was written by Reginald Heber Smith, director of the Boston Legal Aid Society. [1]
Smith challenged the legal profession to consider it an obligation to see that access to justice was available to all, without regard to ability to pay. "Without equal access to the law," he wrote, "the system not only robs the poor of their only protection, but places in the hands of their oppressors the most powerful and ruthless weapon ever invented." [2]
As a result of Smith's book, the American Bar Association created the Special Committee on Legal Aid Work. By the middle of the 20th century, virtually every major metropolitan area had some kind of legal aid program.
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Reginald Heber was an English bishop, man of letters and hymn-writer. After 16 years as a country parson, he served as Bishop of Calcutta until his death at the age of 42. The son of a rich landowner and cleric, Heber gained fame at the University of Oxford as a poet. After graduation he made an extended tour of Scandinavia, Russia and Central Europe. Ordained in 1807, he took over his father's old parish, Hodnet, Shropshire. He also wrote hymns and general literature, including a study of the works of the 17th-century cleric Jeremy Taylor.
Legal aid is the provision of assistance to people who are unable to afford legal representation and access to the court system. Legal aid is regarded as central in providing access to justice by ensuring equality before the law, the right to counsel and the right to a fair trial. This article describes the development of legal aid and its principles, primarily as known in Europe, the Commonwealth of Nations and in the United States.
A public defender is a lawyer appointed to represent people who otherwise cannot reasonably afford to hire a lawyer to defend themselves in a trial. Several countries, including the UK, Hungary and Singapore, and some states of Australia, provide people with public defenders. Brazil is the only country in which an office of government-paid lawyers with the specific purpose of providing legal assistance and representation to the destitute free of charge, is established in the constitution. The Sixth Amendment of the US Constitution requires the US government to provide free legal counsel to indigent defendants in criminal cases, and public defenders in the United States are full-time lawyers employed by the state or federal governments.
The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) is a publicly funded, 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation established by the United States Congress. It seeks to ensure equal access to justice under the law for all Americans by providing funding for civil legal aid to those who otherwise would be unable to afford it. The LSC was created in 1974 with bipartisan congressional sponsorship and the support of the Nixon administration, and LSC is funded through the congressional appropriations process.
Global Rights is an international human rights capacity-building non-governmental organization (NGO). Founded in Washington, D.C., in 1978 with the name International Human Rights Law Group, the organization changed its name to Global Rights: Partners for Justice in 2003 on the occasion of its 25th anniversary. In December 2014 it shut its Washington headquarters and devolved the center of its operations to its country office in Nigeria and Burundi from where the organization continues to work with local activists in Africa to promote and protect the rights of marginalized populations. It provided technical assistance and training to enable local partners to document and expose human rights abuses, conduct community outreach and mobilization, advocate for legal and policy reform, and provide legal and paralegal services.
The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland is a legal aid society in Cleveland, Ohio established in 1905. It helped pioneer a nationwide legal aid movement whose leaders held to a simple but profound principle: that rich and poor alike are entitled to equal treatment under the law.
John Robert Holland is an American lawyer.
Henry Lee Adams Jr. is a Senior United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
Legal aid in the United States is the provision of assistance to people who are unable to afford legal representation and access to the court system in the United States. In the US, legal aid provisions are different for criminal law and civil law. Criminal legal aid with legal representation is guaranteed to defendants under criminal prosecution who cannot afford to hire an attorney. Civil legal aid is not guaranteed under federal law, but is provided by a variety of public interest law firms and community legal clinics for free or at reduced cost. Other forms of civil legal aid are available through federally-funded legal services, pro bono lawyers, and private volunteers.
The National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA) is the oldest and largest national, nonprofit membership organization devoted to advocating equal justice for all Americans and was established in 1911.
Agyenim N. Boateng is a Ghanaian American lawyer and judge. He is a dual citizen of the United States and Ghana currently residing in Lexington, Kentucky in the United States. He is a former Administrative Law Judge for the Transportation Cabinet of Kentucky and a former Deputy Attorney General for the State of Kentucky. He is also active in the United States wing of the New Patriotic Party of Ghana.
Avocats Sans Frontières (ASF), also known as Advocaten Zonder Grenzen or Lawyers without Borders, is an international NGO, active in the human rights and development sector. Created in 1992 by a group of Belgian lawyers, ASF’s main objective is the realisation of institutions and mechanisms that facilitate access to independent and fair justice systems that ensure legal security and guarantee fundamental human rights for everyone.
The Uganda Law Society (ULS) is an association of lawyers charged with ensuring high levels of professionalism among lawyers in Uganda.
The legal aid system in New Zealand provides Government-funded legal assistance to those who are unable to afford a lawyer. Legal aid is available for almost all court actions across all levels of the court system. This includes criminal charges, civil issues, family disputes, appeals and Waitangi Tribunal claims. Since its inception, the cost of the service to the taxpayer has grown considerably. In 2009, the system was subject to a three-month critical review by Dame Margaret Bazley who suggested a number of changes including fixed fees for defence lawyers working on criminal cases. Bazley's recommendations were rapidly adopted by the Government which wanted to cut costs. Leading academics have expressed concerns that, as a result, New Zealander's right to a fair trial is being compromised.
It used to call "Network of Legal Aid Providers Awn", in March 2013 the member of the network change the name to "Awn Access to Justice Network in Gaza Strip" AJ Net. Also known as "Awn Network", many people in Gaza prefer to call it Legal Clinics, it was established by UNDP/PAPP – Gaza in ِApril-2011. It’s comprised primarily from organizations that are non-public, non-state civil society actors that are politically unaffiliated.
Charles Henry Dorsey, Jr. was born in Baltimore and attended St. Catherine Academy in Baltimore and Epiphany College, a Josephite seminary, in New York from 1947–48. He transferred from Epiphany College to Loyola College in September 1949. He was the first black undergraduate student to enroll in Loyola College.
Legal aid in Germany is “embedded in the court system and is seen as a part of this”. Germany was the first country to provide free legal aid representation for the poor in 1919, and represents the archetype of the so-called judicare system.
Access to justice initiatives and programs are designed to provide legal services to populations that may otherwise have difficulty obtaining legal advice and representation. Without access to justice, people are not able to fully exercise their rights, challenge discrimination, or hold decision-makers accountable for their actions.
Martha Jane Bergmark is an attorney, civil rights advocate, and writer from Mississippi. Bergmark is best known for her work promoting civil justice through civil legal aid organizations at the local, state, and national level. Currently, Bergmark is executive director of Voices for Civil Justice.
Charles Addison Gessler was an American criminal defense attorney who specialized in death penalty litigation. Gessler worked as a deputy public defender for the Los Angeles County Public Defender's office for thirty-two years. Gessler handled several high-profile cases, including representing Lyle Melendez, G. Gordon Liddy and Vaughn Greenwood.