Roger Smith admires the legal aid administration north of the border
Edinburgh was looking particularly gorgeous during the biennial conference of the International Legal Aid Group (ILAG). The weather was stunning. An extra-curricular visit to the suburb where I spent some of my childhood—now complete with the Robert Louis Stevenson heritage trail— made me particularly mellow. On the other hand, extended contemplation of the fate of legal aid is a bit of a downer for someone now irredeemably English. The detailed proceedings remain veiled under the Chatham House Rules by which the conference was governed. However, the papers and programme are available on ILAG’s website (internationallegalaidgroup.org) and are worth a browse.
Scotland
Not only was Edinburgh out to impress: so too were the Scottish government and the Scottish Legal Aid Board. A generation ago, there was little difference between England and Scotland in its legal aid administration. But, the government north of the border was never so fixated by the grand gestures like compulsory competitive tendering which have so fascinated English governments of all persuasions. Instead, the Scots have avoided sudden
