Post by nickd on May 4, 2012 22:05:22 GMT 1
The Friday Message
Thank you to all those who emailed me over the last week with kind words about the work ilegal and Mylegalforum did fighting LASPO and standing up for your rights to provide a publicly funded service to your clients. I can't deny that it was costly, on many levels, but that's the thing about doing the right thing: you do it because it is right
Now the future. There are two immediate strands we need to tackle: the 2012 Tender for legal aid and, the future of Social Welfare Law however that may be funded. We intend to address both of them
2012 Tender for Contracts in 2013
We have this morning opened up a new area on ilegal looking at the 2012 Tender, where we intend to provide the same kind of space for people working or interested in developments in legal aid that we did in the 2010 Tender. Any of you who were around then will remember that particular area on ilegal being the only port in the storm there was back then and I'm sure our new area will serve a similar need, providing you with the kind of non-sanitised information you, the people actually doing the work need to make decisions
There's not a lot in there yet, but I think we all know there will be shortly...
We intend to reclaim Social Welfare Law Legal Aid
Legal aid isn't just a funding stream from the LSC. We believe it is providing proper legal assistance to clients who require it. Aid which can be funded via any number of sources
The LSC and the Government has shown it does not deserve stewardship of 'legal aid', we're taking it back
We will therefore be closely following all developments in both the not-for-profit advice sector and the wider legal advice sector. We see no need to set artificial distinctions when the aim is to provide the best possible service to clients in a sustainable funding environment
There is more to come on this. Watch this space
Finally...
We haven't forgotten the many of you who will be needing to find new jobs and move on because of LASPO and other cuts. We have ideas on how we can give you some support too. We don't think it would be fair to just focus on the future without giving something back to those that made it possible. I'm keeping this under wraps for now but will fill you in in the next Alert
In the meantime, stay strong and remember that it was times of hardship and hopelessness like these that gave birth to the best qualities of the legal advice sector: a commitment to ensuring people were able to access their rights and that everyone be equal under the law. We haven't got their yet, but you are not alone and we fight on together
Regards
Patrick and the ilegal team
ilegal brings people together and is open to everyone in the legal advice sector, whoever you are and whoever you work for. It continues to demonstrate the significant benefits of using technology and social media to share information knowledge and ideas outside the constraints of conventional support networks
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