Community justice centres : new tragectories in law by
This book examines the phenomenon of Community Justice Centres and their potential to transform the justice landscape by tackling the underlying causes of crime. Marred by recidivism, addiction, family violence, overflowing courtrooms, crippling prison spending and extreme rates of incarceration, the criminal justice system is in crisis. Community Justice Centres seek to combat this by tackling the underlying causes of crime in a particular neighbourhood and working with local people to redesign the experience of justice and enhance the notion of community. A Community Justice Centre houses a court which works with an interdisciplinary team to address the causes of criminality such as drug addiction, cognitive impairment, mental illness, poverty, abuse and intergenerational trauma. The community thus becomes a key agent of change, partnering with the Centre to tackle local issues and improve safety and community cohesion. This book, based on research into this innovative justice model, examines case studies from around the world, the challenges presented by the model and the potential for bringing its learnings into the mainstream. This book will appeal to academics in law and criminology as well as psychology; it will also be of considerable interest to people working in the criminal justice system, including the police, government policy advisers, psychologists and social workers.
Access to Justice and Legal Aid by
This book considers how access to justice is affected by restrictions to legal aid budgets and increasingly prescriptive service guidelines. As common law jurisdictions, England and Wales and Australia, share similar ideals, policies and practices, but they differ in aspects of their legal and political culture, in the nature of the communities they serve and in their approaches to providing access to justice. These jurisdictions thus provide us with different perspectives on what constitutes justice and how we might seek to overcome the burgeoning crisis in unmet legal need. The book fills an important gap in existing scholarship as the first to bring together new empirical and theoretical knowledge examining different responses to legal aid crises both in the domestic and comparative contexts, across criminal, civil and family law. It achieves this by examining the broader social, political, legal, health and welfare impacts of legal aid cuts and prescriptive service guidelines. Across both jurisdictions, this work suggests that it is the most vulnerable groups who lose out in the way the law now operates in the twenty-first century. This book is essential reading for academics, students, practitioners and policymakers interested in criminal and civil justice, access to justice, the provision of legal assistance and legal aid.
Democratizing Legal Services by
We live in a "law-thick" world. For individuals and organizations in both the public and private sectors, navigating the large number of complex laws, rules, institutions, and procedures that pervade American life is virtually impossible without some assistance. Some argue that "there are too many lawyers." Others argue that the unmet need for legal services is so high that it constitutes a human rights crisis. This book exposes why it is easy to access legal services for some, while it is virtually impossible for others, and why some lawyers have successful careers, but others cannot. This book argues that the problems plaguing legal services in the US can be only be addressed by a radical overhaul of the rules that govern how legal services may be delivered, as well as radical changes to who exercises the power to make those rules. Through interviews with those with experience with alternative legal service providers, this book exposes the formidable obstacles that exist along the path to those changes, as well as the opportunities that await. More information can be found at: www.notjustforlawyers.com
The Canadian law of obligations : access to justice by
Represents a variety of topics such as unconscionability in contract and reasonable expectations in tort. The articles in this volume represent a variety of the conference papers, on topics such as unconscionability in contract, reasonable expectations in tort and hardship caused by fee-waiver processes.
Legal aid lawyers and the quest for justice. by
This book examines the state of access to criminal justice by considering the health of the lawyer-client relationship under legal aid. In the largest study of its kind for some two decades, ethnographic fieldwork is used to gain a fresh perspective upon the interaction that lies at the heart of the criminal justice system's equality of arms. The research produces two contradictory messages; in interview, lawyers claim a positive relationship with their clients while, under participant observation, there emerges quite the opposite. Paying more heed to what was seen than what was said, it is supposed that these lawyers were able to talk the talk but not walk the walk. The lawyers treat their clients with wanton disrespect; making fun of them, talking over them and pushing them to plead guilty - despite protestations to the contrary. The evidence is damning for this branch of the legal profession - and tragic for the clients who depend on them. What is responsible for this malaise...inadequate financial remuneration? Increased time pressures? Lapsed ethical training? Whatever the origin, this book is intended to show the profession that there is a problem - one that could get worse unless they choose to learn from the mistakes made by the lawyers in this study.
The practical guide to Canadian legal research by
Now in its fourth edition, this thoroughly updated and revised guide not only introduces users to legal research materials, but also offers essential information on efficient legal research skills and on researching specific areas of the law in Canada, the U.K., the U.S. and internationally. An expanded comprehensive checklist and step-by-step instructions on research strategies are intended to guide lawyers, law students, law clerks, legal academics, and anyone else interested in researching the law. Some features of the new fourth edition include: a completely updated selective bibliography listing the major books, loose-leaf services, annotated statutes, topical law reporters, journals and newsletters in major areas of law; a new chapter on government documents including sections on the library depository programs in Canada, Queen's Printers across Canada, parliamentary publications, fiscal documents, Statistics Canada, and Commissions of Inquiry; updated chapters on researching statutes and regulations offering additional information on finding materials electronically and in print, and on identifying the increasing number of jurisdictions in which electronic statutes are now considered official versions; a thoroughly revised chapter on case law research discussing strategies for finding case law along with a greater emphasis on online sources; a streamlined chapter on the Canadian Abridgment analyzing the parts of the Abridgment with directions on how to find and use them online through WestlawNext as well as in print; a chapter on Guidelines for Writing expanded to include a comprehensive legal memorandum sample; "Other Legal Research Tools" providing new and updated information on legal blogs and wikis.