Tipping the scales against legal aid

Britain’s legal aid system continues to fail, and should be abolished for virtually all compensation claims. Reformed Conditional Fee Agreements (CFAs for short) should take its place. Those are the headline recommendations of the Adam Smith Institute’s latest report, written by legal expert Anthony Barton.
 
It’s not difficult to point to problems with legal aid, but the main one is that it encourages risk-free, speculative litigation, and fuels a costly compensation culture. The fact that claimants receiving legal aid are not responsible for defendants’ costs if their case is unsuccessful essentially puts them in a no-lose situation. Defendants, on the other hand, just can’t win – they’re going to be out of pocket whatever happens.
 
There’s a financial imperative too: the government needs to save every penny it can find. But you can’t be short-sighted about this. Legal rights are only meaningful if they can be asserted, and few people can afford the up-front costs involved.