This module explores contemporary issues concerning access legal advice, representation and ‘justice’, including detailed examination of the impacts of Covid-19 on the delivery of justice.
Legal Needs and Legal Assistance explores the public understanding and experience of law, the impact of legal problem experience, the need for and use of legal assistance services, the availability and obstacles to legal assistance, the relationship between clients and lawyers/advisors, the nature and structure of public legal assistance services, and the potential for remodelling public legal assistance services to best match the needs of the public. The course therefore takes a ‘bottom up’, rather than ‘top down’, approach to the justice system; making it particularly relevant to those with an interest in access to justice, broader social justice, and the nature and development of public legal assistance, including legal aid.
Module syllabus
Legal problems and real lives
Public legal assistance services: a demography
Public understanding of law and legal services
How the public resolve legal problems
‘One shotters’ and ‘repeat players’
Lawyer and client: roles and expectations
Legal needs in the police station
The impact of advice and legal representation
Meeting legal needs: regulatory, legal aid reform and UN SDG16.3.
Mirroring legal needs: the challenge of matching legal assistance to legal needs
Recommended materials
Module reading lists and other module materials will be provided via online module pages, available at the beginning of term once students have enrolled.
Preliminary reading
Galanter, M. (1974) “Why the ‘Haves’ Come Out Ahead: Speculations on the Limits of Legal Change,” in 9(1) Law and Society Review, pp. 95-160
Heinz, J.P., Nelson, R.L., Sandefur, R.L., Laumann, E.O. (2005), Urban Lawyers: The New Social Structure of the Bar, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
Pleasence, P. (2006) Causes of Action: Civil Law and Social Justice, Norwich: TSO
Pleasence, P., Kemp, V. and Balmer, N.J. (2011) The “The Justice Lottery: Police Station Advice 25 Years on from PACE” in Criminal Law Review, January 2011
Pleasence, P., Coumarelos, C., Forell, S. and McDonald, H. (2014), Reshaping Legal Assistance Services: Building on the Evidence Base. Sydney: Law and Justice Foundation of New South Wales.
Pleasence, P. et al. (2019) Legal Needs Surveys and Access to Justice, Paris: OECD/Open Society Foundations, available at https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/governance/legal-needs-surveys-and-access-to-justice_g2g9a36c-en
Seron, C., Van Ryzin, G., Frankel, M. and Kovath, J. (2001), “The Impact of Legal Counsel on Outcomes for Poor Tenants in New York City’s Housing Court: Results of a Randomized Experiment,” 35(2) Law and Society Review, pp. 419-434
Key information
Module details | |
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Credit value: | 22.5 credits (225 learning hours) |
Convenor: | Pascoe Pleasence |
Other Teachers: | None |
Teaching Delivery: | 10 x 2-hour weekly seminars, Term 2 |
Who may enrol: | LLM Students Only |
Prerequisites: | None |
Must not be taken with: | None |
Qualifying module for: | LLM in Criminal Justice, Family, and Social Welfare; LLM in Human Rights Law; LLM in Public Law |
Assessment | |
Practice Assessment: | TBD |
Final Assessment: | 3,000 Word Essay (100%) |