Legal aid

Legal aid is free or subsidized legal assistance for people who cannot afford a lawyer. It is commonly funded or organized by governments, charities, or professional organizations.

Public defender: A lawyer appointed or employed to represent people accused of crimes who cannot afford counsel. Public defenders provide publicly funded legal representation in criminal cases.
Means test: An assessment of a person's income or assets used to determine eligibility for assistance. Legal aid programs commonly use financial thresholds to allocate limited services.
Poor Persons' Procedure: Historical court procedures that allowed people without means to bring or defend legal proceedings with reduced costs. These procedures were an early legal mechanism for assisting poor litigants.
Right to counsel: A legal entitlement to representation by a lawyer in specified proceedings. Legal aid can make a formal right to counsel usable for people without money.
Judicare: A legal aid model in which private lawyers are paid by the state to represent eligible clients. It contrasts with systems that rely mainly on salaried legal aid staff.
Civil legal aid: Free or subsidized legal help for people facing noncriminal legal problems. It covers matters such as housing, family disputes, and access to public benefits.
Merits test: An assessment of a case's legal prospects or broader justification before resources are provided. Some programs limit representation to cases that meet a merits threshold.
Legal Aid and Advice Act 1949: A British statute that established a national scheme of publicly funded legal aid and advice. It created a landmark postwar system for state-supported legal assistance.
Equality before the law: The principle that people are subject to the same laws and entitled to equal legal protection. Legal aid helps reduce disparities in the ability to assert legal rights.
Staff attorney model: A legal services model in which salaried lawyers employed by an organization represent eligible clients. It differs from paying private lawyers case by case.

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