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Leading the legal aid way

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03 October 2025 / David Burrows
Issue: 8133 / Categories: Opinion , Legal aid focus , Profession
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As one of the greats of legal aid retires, David Burrows offers his thoughts on legal aid today & over the past 50 years

Last month, Patrick Allen from Hodge Jones & Allen (HJA) stepped down from the firm he founded in 1977 with Henry Hodge and Peter Jones. About ten years ago, I met Patrick briefly at a lunch hosted by the editor of this journal, though I knew Henry Hodge in the late 80s.

The slightly fuzzy photo (above) of the smiling HJA trio speaks to a variety of thoughts for me of practice in the 1970s and of our optimism as lawyers then. So much seemed possible for many of us, with leadership from such firms as HJA and their tireless support of the legal aid scheme. They paved the way for many of us. Patrick’s retirement is truly the end of an era which began in the 1970s—much kinder times.

I happen to be two weeks older than the original legal aid scheme. The Legal Aid and Advice Act 1949 received royal assent on 30 July 1949.

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