Legal aid heroes take centre stage on Oscar night
On her first day after leaving Downing Street, Cherie Booth QC paid tribute to the heroes of legal aid. Booth, who chaired the Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year (LALY) awards judging panel, said that legal aid was as important as having properly funded health services or adequately provided housing.
“It should be up there among the priorities of government and we have to make sure that we keep pushing that case,” Booth said. She urged all those involved with legal aid to play their part. “We are doughty fighters. We keep taking the impossible cases, for our clients. If we can’t do that for ourselves as well, we are not the people I think we are.”
The LALY awards, organised by the Legal Aid Practitioners Group (LAPG), celebrate the work of lawyers who have dedicated their careers to protecting the rights of the poor and the powerless against the rich and powerful, and to working towards the goal that nobody should be unable to protect and enforce their rights just because
