According to Victoria`s Sentencing Advisory Council, Victoria`s prison population has nearly doubled in recent years and the recidivism rate stands at nearly 45%. While this is not always the case, there is strong evidence that those without legal representation face much harsher sentences – including a misverdict – and prison sentences than if they had a lawyer. LSC`s funding request also failed to make it into last fall`s rushed second stimulus package. The House of Representatives passed a bill with $100 million in legal aid, but the streamlined Senate bill, which passed at the 11th hour, lacked the version that eventually became law. As always, if you seek legal advice in a criminal matter, Gallant Law can help you through this difficult time at 03 8374 7657. If charities cannot offer counselling on their own due to a lack of funding, one way could be to alert individuals to pro bono support. The pro bono activity of law firms (and others) has increased in recent years. The legal profession attaches much more importance to this area of activity. The legal profession (LawWorks) and the Law Society`s Pro Bono Unit have their own pro bono groups that aim to provide free legal aid to those who cannot afford it and do not have access to legal aid. One of the problems with accessing such services could be the lack of knowledge on the part of front-line charities that members of the public seek advice. Charities that were not used to dealing with counselling services may not know if pro bono support is available or how to access it. As expected, not-for-profit consultants already have a close partnership with pro bono providers (see, for example, ProBonoUK.net 2012, p.

12). The opposite problem here could be that, although there is wide knowledge of this support, the current supply of pro bono labour is unlikely to meet the needs. A recent LawWorks survey found “widespread concern about the impact of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act, 2012, but almost no planning or willingness to venture into new areas of pro bono work to fill the gaps” (LawWorks 2012, p. 3). As co-chairs of the Congressional Access to Legal Aid Caucus, we are committed to expanding access to legal services for low-income Americans. We believe that the total funding of $600 million for LSC is necessary if we are even to begin to address the current civil legal aid crisis, where demand far exceeds the resources to address it. The NCVO (2011) estimates that the UK voluntary sector will lose around £911 million in public funding per year. This means that the voluntary and municipal sectors will lose £2.8 billion from government over the current expenditure review period from 2011 to 2016. Charities, including those that provide counselling services, are already suffering from overall budget cuts. Recent research (Compact Voice 2012) on the extent of local government spending in the voluntary and municipal sectors through grants and contracts, including changes in funding levels, has found that about half of local authorities continue to view the voluntary sector as an easy target for spending cuts, disproportionate reductions are common.

This is in line with an earlier report by the Association of Executive Directors of Voluntary Organizations (ACEVO), based on data from 1725 organizations that had applied to the Civil Society Bureau`s Transition Fund to support civil society organizations facing public spending cuts. This suggests that it is very likely that public bodies will pass on disproportionate cuts to charities (i.e. deeper cuts to charities than themselves) (ACEVO, 2011, p. 3). Another recent survey commissioned by the Charities Aid Foundation found that one in six charities believe they could face closure in the coming year (Charities Aid Foundation, 2012). It has already been noted that legal aid reform is only one part of a series of tripartite cuts affecting charities that provide legal advice (and others); the abolition of direct financial support through drastic cuts in the public sector and the withdrawal of charitable support activities by the Charity Commission in its realigned role as regulator, which together form the other two elements. Nor do these charities benefit from a corresponding decline in demand for their services. Indeed, the general economic climate, combined with the introduction of the social reform agenda with its cap on benefits, means that the demand from charities for counselling services is likely to increase.

In this context, the specific impact of LASPO implementation on charities needs to be taken into account. Funds from court filings and attorneys` fees come in when cases are filed and judges make decisions. However, at the beginning of the pandemic, court proceedings were blocked and then brought online with reduced capacity. Government support programs saw a nearly one-quarter drop in revenue from lawsuits last year. One-third of low-income Americans have experienced at least one significant civil law issue directly related to the pandemic in the past year. Most of these issues were about income security, education and housing – issues that are at the heart of a person`s security. More than half of low-income Americans who have problems with unemployment benefits and deportations have attributed it to the pandemic. One response to the withdrawal of legal aid funding for social assistance issues is that charities offer a different type of counselling than current services, such as switching to a more general counselling service. This would cost less to manage than a more specialized service and seems to be a sensible response to maintaining the service, rather than simply cutting consulting services altogether.

The direct result would be that charities would not give the advice they have given before, either by nature or quality. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase in demand for legal services in the areas of eviction and foreclosure, unemployment, consumer debt and domestic violence. Many Americans were forced to seek a civil attorney for the first time. New benefit programs were created and existing ones were modified, bringing new regulations and legal challenges for low-income Americans. Before delving into some of the specific implications of the implementation of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Sanctioning of Offenders Act, 2012 (LASPO) for charities, the first section of this article provides the context in which this discussion can be placed. In particular, it deals with the composition and regulation of the not-for-profit sector, the role of the sector in advising and funding this charity. It briefly describes the impact of legal aid reform and other budget cuts on charities and their regulators. The main body of the article discusses the impact of mutual legal assistance reforms on charities. It will become clear that the consequences for charities are significant and likely largely unforeseen.

They certainly did not feature prominently on the agenda of policymakers who focused on the impact of the reforms on private law firms and concerns about plaintiffs` access to justice. The article concludes by suggesting that charities will survive the reforms.