Comments | bronnyelsp: Signs the Tories are in power

bronnyelsp

Signs the Tories are in power

Oct 14, 2010 14:36

The government recognises the hardship that [cuts to legal aid] will cause, but has other suggestions. One idea that has proved popular among Tories is the idea that lawyers should do more work for free. Pro bono legal advice and representation, senior Conservatives have argued, are an important part of a lawyer's civic duty. Jonathan Djanogly, the ( Read more... )

tories, legal aid, law, uk politics

Comments 10

aggiebell October 14 2010, 14:51:14 UTC

Easy to say when it's not your job! I agree it legal advice should be accessible, but that's what legal aid is for. What else is our civic duty? Garbage must be picked up, students must be taught....

bronnyelsp October 14 2010, 15:06:00 UTC

One of the comments to this article states that the commenter does not know a single legal aid lawyer who doesn't do pro bono work.

Pretty apt.

sashajwolf October 14 2010, 15:38:10 UTC

In addition to the points you and aggiebell make, which I agree with, I also think he completely fails to understand the degree of specialisation within the profession. A lawyer who has worked in the legal aid sector before and is now job-hunting and/or returning from a career break will almost certainly look at that sector again. A lawyer who has been working outside that sector won't and probably shouldn't, because the higher-end commercial work requires different knowledge and even to some degree a different skill-set.

Also, "good filler" is patronising to the excellent lawyers who dedicate their entire lives to legal aid at considerable personal cost, both financial and psychological - I know my mental health wouldn't be up to it - and to women returning from full-time childcare. Legal aid is not where you park your problem out-of-work lawyers, nor is it something you settle for when you have nothing better to do.

bronnyelsp October 14 2010, 16:32:29 UTC

Thank you for articulating my central problem with that quote. I just couldn't get beyond wordless, outraged sputtering at the sheer, disgusting condescension of it -- to legal aid lawyers and to mothers returning from maternity leave alike.

tediousandbrief October 14 2010, 16:33:42 UTC

O_o?

WTF. How does that even make sense? The stupid...it does actually hurt.

bronnyelsp October 14 2010, 22:15:16 UTC

It's the definition of WHAT IS THIS I DON'T EVEN

girl_in_blue October 14 2010, 16:49:39 UTC

but bronwen, everyone must help in the BIG SOCIETY!

bronnyelsp October 14 2010, 22:08:32 UTC

I know! If I am not willing to do my entire job for NO MONEY so that the bankers can continue to get their bonuses and we can afford to replace Trident, then I am clearly NOT CIVIC.

Not that it will matter, because the Big Society will produce McKenzie Friends out of thin air for all the people who can't get legal aid, and that will solve everything.

read this, so funny girl_in_blue October 15 2010, 08:32:43 UTC

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v32/n08/jonathan-raban/camerons-crank

felis_ultharus October 15 2010, 19:56:43 UTC

I used to wonder why right-wingers were such big fans of charity filling the gaps left by receding government. I used to think it was just an excuse to fights charges of a lack of compassion, and undoubtedly for some of them it is. For others, they don't seem to be so much bothered by the idea that the poor could get their money as they are by the idea that the government would give it away in social programs.

It took me ages to realise that they don't like social programs because they feel that gratitude is not part of the equation. Social programs simply that they have a duty to give up a portion of their income for the greater good, and that those who are in need of support have a right to draw on the government for it.

Ergo, no gratitude. No humiliation. No ego-boost for the giver.