Sally Clark spent more than three years in prison before she was cleared of murdering her children. Legal aid meant she could afford a dedicated solicitor and the scientific expert who helped prove her innocence in 2003. It also funded my work in representing her. Without legal aid, she might have died without clearing her name. The English legal system only imperfectly protects those such as Clark, who suffer serious miscarriages of justice. But these protections look set to end.
Under the coalition government, the criminal justice system could change beyond recognition. We have already seen proposals to eviscerate legal aid. Now, under ideas being considered by Chris Grayling, justice secretary, the legal service is to be outsourced. And the courts themselves may be funded by private investors who are promised an attractive rate of return on capital injected to acquire infrastructure from Her Majesty’s Court Service.
It is not because I am a career defender that I object to this.