The cuts to legal aid are far worse than expected, creating a “two-tier” system that denies access to justice to the poorest, warns a critical Amnesty International report. A discouraging aspect of recent US presidential campaigns is the almost total silence on access to justice. The absence of a national political debate is not due to the absence of a problem. According to the World Justice Project, the United States ranks 67th (along with Uganda) out of 97 countries in terms of accessibility and affordability of civil justice. Other developed democracies spend three to ten times more on civil legal aid than the United States. The fact that such prestigious judges highlight the impact of the 80% reduction in legal aid since 2012 correlates with Amnesty International`s 2016 report, which states that “cuts to legal aid have decimated access to justice for thousands of people”. Those seeking access to legal proceedings through self-advocacy usually learn that it is a stressful and difficult process and many are pushed into debt to fund lawyers and legal advisors. One youth worker told Amnesty International: “I had a young person I was working with who had to represent himself before the lower asylum and immigration court. He had a good record, but he did not have access to legal aid. I accompanied him to court and explained that I could not help him because I was not qualified, but that I could give him moral support. One lawyer told Amnesty International: “The idea that children and young people can represent themselves just doesn`t work.

They are such a vulnerable group. It`s not just that they don`t understand legal processes and concepts what they don`t do, but they have no idea how to fill out forms correctly, what to write, where to send documents, where to get advice, and who to talk to. “Many people are already discouraged from getting involved in the legal system. In 2015, the median U.S. household brought in $55,775 annually, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Since the average legal fee for a partner is $604 per hour and $370 per hour for an employee, even a small problem that takes only a few hours to solve can result in a bill of more than $1,000. And this four-figure price level does not include additional costs such as court fees, service process fees, credit card fees, and parking or courthouse transportation fees. To file a lawsuit or find an affordable lawyer, many people may need to take time off work, which isn`t always an option. Legal aid ensures that Americans who would otherwise not have access to justice, even in critical cases, are able to seek justice.

Take the example of Nancy, who was referred to Legal Aid of West Virginia by a domestic violence shelter. Her abusive husband attacked her after she tried to flee him. A lawyer helped her get a lifetime protection order, file for divorce, and handle income and support issues. Legal aid was able to offer services to relieve her anxiety and allow her to start a new life safely. As a result, the majority of those seeking assistance through publicly funded civil legal aid programmes are refused due to lack of resources. The LSC`s budget has already fallen by nearly 40% over the past three decades. Only 5,000 lawyers serve a country of more than 60 million low-income people eligible for assistance. Direct funding for legal services for low-income individuals is only $5.85 per eligible person per year and would decrease significantly if federal funding were to dry up. In 2016, Americans spent more on Halloween costumes than on LSC grants. Gonzalez`s frustration with the Interior Ministry`s bureaucracy and the ministry`s asylum mistakes in particular is not unique. In 2013, Mark Stobbs, the Law Society`s director of legal policy at the time, said the government would get better value from the system if there were no “inefficiency, delays and a culture of disbelief” at the Home Office.

Because of its obsession with numbers and goals, the department is determined to fight even the most promising cases, Gonzalez says. His next client after Abuku is Amal Mohamed, a Somali asylum seeker whose case cost taxpayers more than £10,000 in legal aid. Now, after two and a half years of back and forth between judges, they are back in the first phase: the Interior Ministry has agreed to reconsider Amal`s first asylum application. Asylum applications are still entitled to legal aid, but to a lesser extent. When Gonzalez joined Wilson`s in 1999, lawyers were funded to attend asylum seeker selection interviews. Now they are only funded to participate if their client is a minor. She is used to any legal aid litigation at the end of a case – not only in terms of her time, but also the cost of obtaining important medical and psychological opinions about her clients, even if the money has been pre-approved by the Legal Aid Agency. “A lot of very reputable firms have stopped providing legal assistance, and I fully understand why,” Gonzalez says.

“They force us to fight for every funding and the bureaucracy that comes with it is brutal.” There are several reasons why a particular region may incur high costs for legal aid.