 Legal Aid Bureau | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Jurisdiction | Government of Singapore |
| Website | www |
The Legal Aid Bureau (LAB) in Singapore is a department under the Ministry of Law of the Government of Singapore. LAB provides legal representation and advice in civil matters to persons of limited means. The department is headed by the Director of Legal Aid.
LAB was set up on 1 July 1958, following the passing of the Legal Aid and Advice (Amendment) Bill on 11 June 1958. The Legal Aid and Advice Ordinance later became the Legal Aid and Advice Act – the key legislation that governs the work of LAB. In 1984, LAB became a department under the Ministry of Law.
The Legal Aid Scheme covers civil matters such as divorce, custody of children, adoption, wrongful dismissal, letters of administration/probate, tenancy disputes, claims in contract and tort. It does not cover criminal matters.
Legal aid applicants receive help in the form of legal advice, legal representation in court proceedings as well as legal assistance in the drafting of legal documents like Deeds of Separation. LAB only handles civil proceedings in the Supreme Court, the Subordinate Courts and the Syariah Court .
Given that Legal Aid is meant to help less privileged Singapore citizens and Permanent Residents, persons who want to apply for Legal Aid have to satisfy both a Means Test – which determines a person’s financial eligibility based on his disposable income and disposable capital – and a Merits Test – which determines if there are reasonable grounds for taking up, continuing or defending the court action – before legal aid is provided.
Legal aid cases are handled by LAB’s in-house lawyers as well as private lawyers who volunteer their time and services as Assigned Solicitors.
A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching the philosophy, hypothesis and history of law, and giving expert legal opinions.
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enforcement, prosecutions or even responsibility for legal affairs generally. In practice, the extent to which the attorney general personally provides legal advice to the government varies between jurisdictions, and even between individual office-holders within the same jurisdiction, often depending on the level and nature of the office-holder's prior legal experience.
In its most general sense, the practice of law involves giving legal advice to clients, drafting legal documents for clients, and representing clients in legal negotiations and court proceedings such as lawsuits, and is applied to the professional services of a lawyer or attorney at law, barrister, solicitor, or civil law notary. However, there is a substantial amount of overlap between the practice of law and various other professions where clients are represented by agents. These professions include real estate, banking, accounting, and insurance. Moreover, a growing number of legal document assistants (LDAs) are offering services which have traditionally been offered only by lawyers and their employee paralegals. Many documents may now be created by computer-assisted drafting libraries, where the clients are asked a series of questions that are posed by the software in order to construct the legal documents. In addition, regulatory consulting firms also provide advisory services on regulatory compliance that were traditionally provided exclusively by law firms.
A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and enabled to practise there as such. For example, in England and Wales a solicitor is admitted to practise under the provisions of the Solicitors Act 1974. With some exceptions, practising solicitors must possess a practising certificate. There are many more solicitors than barristers in England; they undertake the general aspects of giving legal advice and conducting legal proceedings.
In English civil litigation, costs are the lawyers' fees and disbursements of the parties.
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.
The Solicitor General of India is subordinate to the Attorney General for India. They are the second law officer of the country, assists the Attorney General, and is assisted by Additional Solicitors General for India. Currently, the Solicitor General of India is Tushar Mehta. Like the Attorney General for India, the Solicitor General and the Additional Solicitors General advise the Government and appear on behalf of the Union of India in terms of the Law Officers Rules, 1972. However, unlike the post of Attorney General for India, which is a Constitutional post under Article 76 of the Constitution of India, the posts of the Solicitor General and the Additional Solicitors General are merely statutory. Appointments Committee of the Cabinet(ACC) recommends the appointment and president officially appoints the Solicitor General. The proposal for appointment of Solicitor General, Additional Solicitor General is generally moved at the level of Joint secretary/Law Secretary in the Department of Legal Affairs and after obtaining the approval of the Minister of Law & Justice, the proposal goes to the ACC and then to the president.
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 law of Hong Kong is unique, being a common law system preserved, after the handover to China in 1997, within the civil law system of the People's Republic of China (PRC), under the principle of ‘one country, two systems'. Since the handover, the constitutional framework is provided by the Hong Kong Basic Law, which is a national law of the PRC and has constitutional status in Hong Kong.
The Supreme Court of the Republic of Singapore is one of the two tiers of the court system in Singapore, the other tier being the State Courts.
Right to counsel means a defendant has a right to have the assistance of counsel and, if the defendant cannot afford a lawyer, requires that the government appoint one or pay the defendant's legal expenses. The right to counsel is generally regarded as a constituent of the right to a fair trial. Historically, however, not all countries have always recognized the right to counsel. The right is often included in national constitutions. 153 of the 194 constitutions currently in force have language to this effect.
The Attorney General of Malaysia is the principal legal adviser of Malaysia. The Attorney General is also the highest ranking public prosecutor in the country and is also known as the Public Prosecutor, or simply PP. The powers with regard to prosecution is contained in Article 145(3) of the Federal Constitution. For instance, exercisable at his discretion, the Attorney General may institute, conduct or discontinue any proceedings for an offence, other than proceedings before a Syariah court, a native court or a court-martial.
A duty solicitor, duty counsel, or duty lawyer, is a solicitor whose services are available to a person either suspected of, or charged with, a criminal offence free of charge, if that person does not have access to a solicitor of their own and usually if it is judged by a means test that they cannot afford one. The system is operative in several Commonwealth countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
Additional Solicitor General of India abbreviated as ASG is a law officer of India and is the third ranking lawyer of the Government of India. The headquarters of Additional Solicitor-General may be at New Delhi or Mumbai or Chennai or Allahabad as the Government of India may specify from time to time. ASG is governed by Law Officers Rules, 1987.
In England and Wales, the principle of legal professional privilege has long been recognised by the common law. It is seen as a fundamental principle of justice, and grants a protection from disclosing evidence. It is a right that attaches to the client and so may only be waived by the client.
The Office of the Solicitor General of the Philippines, formerly known as the Bureau of Justice, is an independent and autonomous office attached to the Department of Justice. The OSG is headed by Jose Calida.
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.
The Public Defender Service (PDS) for the District of Columbia provides legal defense to individuals on a court-appointed basis for criminal and delinquency cases indigent adult and juvenile defendants/ respondents. Its Mental Health Division provides representation to persons facing involuntary civil commitment based on allegations that the person is a danger to self or others as a result of mental illness. Its parole division represents parolees charged with violating parole and facing revocation before the United States Parole Commission. PDS also provides other legal-related services in DC.
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.
The Solicitor General of the State is a senior official of the Ministry of Justice. The Spanish Solictor General is the person in charge of directing the Legal Service of the Spanish Government and its relationship with all kinds of national or foreign organisms, entities and bodies. As head of the Legal Service is in charge of the representation and defense of the Kingdom of Spain before the courts, organs and international or supranational organisms in which it is a party in any jurisdictional, arbitral or extrajudicial proceedings. Likewise, it is also responsible for advising the Government and the organs of the Administration about issues of legality.
