Students from low-income backgrounds can no longer afford to become legal aid lawyers, according to a recent report. Social mobility in the legal aid profession is increasingly being curtailed by the financial difficulties of training, and has reached critical levels. Legal aid is becoming a no-go area for ordinary people who want to become lawyers.

So states a report published this week by Young Legal Aid Lawyers (YLAL), an umbrella organisation formed in 2005 to represent the views of law students, solicitors, barristers and paralegals in response to growing concerns over the future of legal aid. Their report is in response to the Government consultation paper ‘New opportunities: Fair Chances for the Future’ and The Panel on Fair Access to the Professions’ report ‘Unleashing Aspirations’.

YLAL claim: “The reasons why social mobility is particularly lacking in the legal aid sector include the lack of subsidised training opportunities, low salaries, and the almost ubiquitous requirement for entry-level candidates to have copious work experience in legal aid, which inevitably can normally only be obtained on an unpaid basis. The result is that those from low-income families cannot afford to become legal aid lawyers and the legal aid profession is therefore becoming less and less representative of the people it serves: those without means”. The recent reforms to the legal aid system have led to a total dearth of training opportunities in the legal aid sector. A few firms continue to take on trainees every year, but these placements have become increasingly competitive. YLAL research showed that a total of 300 or 400 applications per placement is not uncommon, that practitioners are leaving the legal aid sector in droves and that many firms are closing, with no new firms opening. They are also very concerned about the exorbitant costs of undertaking professional qualifications.

According to YLAL the situation is exacerbated by the low rates of remuneration within legal aid. The Law Society recommended minimum wage for trainee solicitors is £16,650, rising to £18,590 in London. Upon qualification, solicitors can expect to earn less than many key workers and in fact most other workers in general. As mentioned in last November’s blog ‘Legal Aid Funding Reforms – Law Society says NO to more fee cuts’, a survey published by the ‘Guardian’ showed that legal aid solicitors earn on average £25,000 per annum – far less than GPs (who earn more than double) and teachers – and less than social workers, nurses, prison officers and sewage plant operatives. The national median salary is £25,816 whereas the median salary for public sector workers is £27,686.

YLAL make 13 recommendations, which include: an immediate review of the prohibitive costs of professional courses required to access the legal profession; an increase in the number of LSC sponsored training contracts; ongoing support and incentives to all firms that demonstrate a commitment to taking on trainees; and improved assistance to parents and others who support a family, who wish to enter the legal aid profession. They conclude: “If our recommendations are not taken on board, increasing restrictions on legal aid means that we risk creating a system where those who cannot afford to pay for legal help are reliant on an unrepresentative cohort of legal aid lawyers…The absolute right to free legal advice from a lawyer of your choice is an essential part of meaningful access to justice”.

 The full text of  “Legal aid lawyers: the lost generation in the ‘national crusade’ on social mobility” can be found at:

 http://www.younglegalaidlawyers.org/files/YLAL_SOCIAL_MOBILITY_REPORT_FEB_2010.pdf