We provide free legal
advice and assistance to the person or persons or
organisations who really deserve.
Most liberal democracies
consider that it is necessary to provide some level of
legal aid to persons otherwise unable to afford legal
representation. To fail to do so would deprive such
persons of access to the court system. Alternately, they
would be at a disadvantage in situations in which the
state or a wealthy individual took them to court. This
would violate the principles of equality before the law
and due process under the rule of law.
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A number of delivery
models for legal aid have emerged. In a "staff attorney"
model, lawyers are employed on salary solely to provide
legal assistance to qualifying low-income clients, similar
to staff doctors in a public hospital. In a "judiciary"
model, private lawyers and law firms are paid to handle
cases from eligible clients alongside cases from
fee-paying clients, much like doctors are paid to handle
Medicare patients in the U.S. The "community legal clinic"
model comprises non-profit clinics serving a particular
community through a broad range of legal services (e.g.
representation, education, law reform) and provided by
both lawyers and non-lawyers, similar to community health
clinics.
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