South Africa has a national judicial system and, in some areas, a tribal form of justice. This is called «legal pluralism.» [30] Informal «indigenous laws» differ significantly from other laws and customs in the country and impede the provision of legal advice. The Office of Economic Opportunity created the Legal Services for the Poor[14] program under the leadership of Sargent Shriver. The ideology behind the program took advantage of the «justice model» because it went beyond access to legal aid. Emphasis was placed on removing barriers for those who cannot afford legal protection based on discrimination based on race, gender and/or class. In this way, the state has tried to reduce poverty with legal remedies and to address the legal causes of poverty. This approach was used in the «war on poverty» under the Johnson administration. [14] The new group of anti-poverty advocates has worked to transform the lives of people oppressed by poverty. With a unique combination of understanding the drivers of poverty and fighting for economic justice, this work aimed to transform the social world that has built and produced conditions of poverty. In the United States, legal aid is the provision of assistance to individuals who cannot afford legal representation and access to the court system in the United States. In the United States, legal aid rules differ between criminal and civil law.
Criminal legal aid with legal representation is guaranteed to accused persons who are prosecuted (as part of the prosecution) and who do not have the means to hire a lawyer. Civil legal aid is not guaranteed by federal law, but is provided free of charge (pro bono) or at a reduced cost by various public interest law firms and community legal clinics. [1] Other forms of civil legal aid are provided by government-funded legal services, pro bono lawyers and private volunteers. [1] [2] There are virtually no legal aid specialists in other countries. This may be because non-lawyers are allowed to provide such services; In both Italy and Belgium, trade unions and political parties provide legal aid services. [191] Part of legal aid in Belgium is also provided by young trainee lawyers subsidized by local bar associations (known as the pro deo system), non-profit consumer protection organizations, and public support bodies subsidized by local governments. [192] In Germany, mandatory fee schedules have allowed for the widespread introduction of affordable legal expenses insurance. [193] Legal aid is closely linked to the welfare state and the provision of legal aid by a state is influenced by attitudes towards social assistance. Legal aid is state social assistance for people who would not otherwise be able to afford legal aid.
Legal aid also helps to enforce social provisions by giving persons entitled to social benefits, such as social housing, access to legal advice and justice. This article emphasizes that free legal aid is an inalienable part of a «reasonable, fair and just» trial, because without it, a person with an economic or other disability would be deprived of the opportunity to obtain justice. [7] In common law countries where the legal professions are divided, lawyers traditionally sit on the Bar Council (or at a law institute) and lawyers on the Bar.
