
Legal Aid Gap - Glyn Maddocks is coming to get you! The withdrawal of legal aid has indeed been like a
cancer, undetected at first other than a general feeling of malaise, then some unusual symptoms popping up in different places - first some strange mutations in litigation funding appearing on the scene, deregulation paving the way for conditional fee arrangements and a whole new array of insurance-backed litigation products; then some odd metamorphoses in the rules as to who is licensed to conduct litigation and run cases and how their businesses are allowed to be structured. No longer a requirement for "expensive" solicitors working in tag-teams with "pricey" barristers, supposedly offering cheaper options to the public, but in reality creating huge risks they won't be properly represented. Finally, a diagnosis: a worrying justice gap created by the withdrawal of Legal Aid and anyone unable to afford legal advice will just have to do without. The surgeon is told to cut a further £220 million of fat from the already slimmed down body on the operating table, slicing away layers of "duplication" and taking the scalpel to "unnecessary expense". He doesn't realize he's in fact cutting into muscle. The body lies inert and butchered now, in front of him, and certainly no nearer a cure. Surely a clinical negligence action waiting to happen.... If only anyone could afford to sue!
Against this backdrop, campaigning lawyer Glyn Maddocks has launched a charity to help plug part of the gaping hole in our British justice system left by the withdrawal of Legal Aid. The Centre for Criminal Appeals (CCA) will provide a not-for-profit solution to the shortage of both legal representation and effective investigation for criminal appeals and miscarriage of justice cases and will attempt to make viable otherwise non-remunerative cases that currently only financially reckless lawyers are prepared to take on. The CCA will cover the overheads of its lawyers and will work as part of a multi-disciplinary team involving investigators and other appropriate experts.
Glyn is a highly experienced criminal solicitor at Gabb & Co in Wales and aside from his campaigning is perhaps most famous for his role in the Paul Blackburn case, a man imprisoned for attempted murder at the age of 15 for 25 years, for a crime he did not commit. Criminal convictions are notoriously difficult to get overturned and Glyn worked tirelessly for 13 years before the Court of Appeal agreed on fresh evidence that Blackburn's confession had been forged by the police. He was released from court a free man.
"It's this terrible concept of years, even whole lives, wasted in prison that has inspired much of my work over the last 20 years." Glyn has devoted a good portion of his career to miscarriage of justice cases. "I have a real worry that without a proper Legal Aid system, most lawyers qualified for the job just won't be able to afford to take on these time-consuming and expensive cases. And innocent people languishing in prison for crimes they didn't commit will simply fall through this justice gap. The CCA hoped that UK firms and barristers chambers may like to consider doing what their US counterparts have done for many years and provide financial support for initiatives such as the CCA. A few hundred pounds each year from the top 100 firms plus a similar amount from the top chambers would provide long term financial viability and would mean that the cca could concentrate on doing its job of acting for those who have allegedly suffered a wrongful conviction."
So, surely it's good news for British justice that the CCA is here with at least a partial cure?
"We certainly have an important role to play but I wish I could be more upbeat. Should UK victims of miscarriages of justice really have to rely on the efforts of a charity? Is it not sad and embarrassing that this country, where the rule of law has long held sway, cannot itself guarantee access to justice for its citizens?"
Anyone interested in pledging financial or other support for the Centre, either as a one-off donation or as part of an ongoing CSR programme, should make contact
- with Glyn Maddocks by email: glyn.maddocks@gabb.co.uk
- via the website: http://www.criminalappeals.org.uk/
- or via webdonate: https://mydonate.bt.com/charities/centreforcriminalappeals
And anyone wishing to donate to Cancer Research's Race for Life can do do here: Cancer - we're coming to get you!
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