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Calls and Visits
International Legal Aid Group (ILAG) Conference in June 2005
Mr J P LEE, Council Chairman attended the conference held from 8 to 10 June at Killarney, Ireland. The conference was hosted by ILAG which was formed in 1992 by a small group of academics and legal aid administrators worldwide. Its membership has grown to include academics of applied research, administrators and policy makers of legal aid in different jurisdictions. Since then it has held conferences biennially with sponsorship from host countries and other parties. ILAG 2005 is the sixth in the series.
This year some 70 delegates from 19 common law and non-common law jurisdictions attended. The relatively small number of attendants enabled frank and easy exchanges.
The conference received a number of country/region reports, including the Hong Kong report. They provided a spectrum of service delivery models in different social/economic/political settings. In addition a variety of topics were discussed. These included-
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new developments in service delivery models, such as application of information technology for convenience of consumers, adoption of alternative dispute resolution, and quality assurance mechanisms; and
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research on specific subjects and these included target groups (specific disadvantaged groups), locational facilities, organizational structure and service delivery, gauging unmet needs, unrepresented litigants and unbundling of legal service.
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It was regarded that legal aid was based on human rights. Legal aid was taken to include information, advice and court proceedings. However given resources constraints, particularly in post-welfare state jurisdictions, it was important to ensure how best resources could be applied. This turned on the consideration of whether legal aid service could be provided by persons other than lawyers (i.e. other service providers), how the quality of service (by lawyers) for litigation purpose could be assured, the competing spending on criminal and civil cases, the possibility of emphasizing on information and advice than on litigation in order to provide service to more people in civil law. There was significant emphasis and interest in empirical research as a basis for service delivery - policy or modelling, and there was great interest in quality assurance, particularly in peer review; England and Scotland were the notable appliers of peer review. In this connection, it was clear that there was a trend to demand quality from both the law firm and the individual lawyer. Peer review however would require conferring authority on third parties to access case files of lawyers, as well as consensus from the legal profession. On the whole, the mixed model of assignment to private lawyers and handling of cases by inhouse staff lawyers of the relevant public agency seemed to prevail as it was seen to offer greater benefits to all parties concerned.
This is the first time Council took part in the ILAG Conference which provides the opportunity for Council to network with other legal aid agencies and researchers.
25th Anniversary Conference of the Ireland Legal Aid Board
Council Chairman took the opportunity to attend also the conference which took place on 11 June 2005, the day following the conclusion of the ILAG Conference. It was opened by the Chairman of the Ireland Legal Aid Board, and attended by local and ILAG Conference delegates.
In addition to a review of the Board in the past 25 years, a short reflection was made on the European Court of Justice and its relationship to its constituent members, including member citizens.
On a broader perspective, there was a continuation of the theme in the ILAG Conference earlier on the advantage of early intervention in legal service, and the importance of identifying unmet needs in civil legal aid. Again human rights as the basis of legal aid was recognized but the question was how much justice society could afford.
A different perspective of partnership was raised on the direction of legal aid. It was proposed that there could be two forms of service delivery. Firstly service to the individual through private lawyers should continue. Secondly a strategic model could be set up by the public service agency through community law centres which would look at the individual in broader social/economic perspective. These centres could also coordinate with other service providers, mainly the non-government organizations.
2005 International Forum on Legal Aid hosted by Legal Aid Foundation, Taiwan
Council was invited by the Legal Aid Foundation, Taiwan, to take part in its International Forum on Legal Aid. Mr J P LEE, Council Chairman, attended the conference from 15 to 17 October 2005 in Taipei.
The Foundation was established by statute under the Legal Aid Act in December 2003, and came into being in April 2004. It is funded primarily by the government, but may accept public donation. "The main goal of the Foundation is to assist disadvantaged persons in enforcing their constitutionally protected right of access to the court system by implementing the ideal of a 'peoples' judiciary', thereby contributing to the building of a just society." The Foundation was very appreciative of Council's assistance during its fact-finding visit to Hong Kong in April 2005.
Participants came from 19 jurisdictions, and were a mixture of policy makers, senior management and front-line workers in legal aid. Apart from the invited international delegates, there was a large contingent of local participants.
At the conclusion of the Forum, a joint statement was issued which is reproduced below.
JOINT STATEMENT
The "2005 International Forum on Legal Aid" was held from the 15th to the 17th of October 2005 in Taipei, Taiwan and organized by the Taiwan Legal Aid Foundation, convening representatives of legal aid organizations and related experts from Australia, Cambodia, Costa Rica, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand, the United Kingdom, the United States and Vietnam. Throughout three days of meetings, we, the conference delegates, compared legal aid systems, shared experiences and discussed the fundamentals and future developments of legal aid.
Access to justice is a universal human right, as reflected in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and many international and regional human rights instruments, as well as the United Nations 1990 Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers. Based on this firm conviction, we believe that access to lawyers and legal services should be guaranteed and made available to all, especially to the poor and other disadvantaged persons, when necessary to achieve a just and fair result. Therefore, we agree on the following conclusions -
I. Organization
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All societies should strive to establish effective legal aid systems; governments, professional legal organizations and non-governmental organizations have a critical role to play in this process.
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Governments should ensure that such systems are provided with sufficient resources.
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Legal aid institutions should be independent in structure, operation and in delivery of services.
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II. Need Assessment and Access
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Legal aid as well as relevant information on legal aid should be readily accessible to the poor and other disadvantaged persons.
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Legal aid systems and services should flexibly respond to the needs of the individual and the changing conditions of society.
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Legal aid should be provided in a timely and efficient manner.
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III. Quality
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Legal aid services should be professional and effective.
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Persons providing legal aid should be respectful, approachable and proactive.
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Systems should be established and implemented to ensure the provision of high-quality services which promote the rule of law.
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IV. Role of Lawyers
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Lawyers should be encouraged to participate in legal aid work.
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When providing legal aid, lawyers should act professionally and without fear or favor.
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Professional associations of lawyers should fully support legal aid.
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V. International Cooperation
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We will promote international exchange of legal aid experience and information.
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Another international legal aid conference should be held in two years.
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We will study ways of establishing a framework for international co-operation in legal aid.
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