access to justice (private funding + other)
private funding
anyone who can afford it can pay for legal advice from a solicitor/barrister - solicitors have offices in most towns but specialise so if a person has an unusual problem, may need to do research and find a solicitor's firm that can actually help
charge an hourly fee and can be very expensive - probably not give a fixed fee for taking a case, as it depends on hours, how easy evidence was to obtain, whether settlement could be reached or case has to go to trial and whether a specialist barrister will be required - some civil cases instruct barrister under direct access scheme
conditional fees
will take place a cap - or max - on amount solicitor can charge
if case is lost, solicitor cannot claim any costs - only agrees to cfa if considered that claim has a good chance of success
cfa ensures client only pays solicitor if they win case for client
agreement contains a 'success fee' clause - added fee that a solicitor becomes entitled to under a cfa if their client's case is successful - amount of success fee is usually determined by complexity and risk of claim and percentage of amount of compensation recovered - if client wins, cannot claim success fee from loser in addition to costs
solicitor can enter a written conditional fee agreement with client in lots of civil cases - particularly personal injury claims, cannot be used in family or criminal cases
due to rule in civil cases that loser pays winner's legal costs, it will be a term of the cfa that the client takes out an 'after the event' insurance policy to cover the costs of other party in case, if case is lost
citizens advice
charitable organisation and there are bureaux in may towns and cities across county - staffed by full-time employees and trained volunteers who give general advice across wide range of uses face-to-face, through telephone, email and web chat - main areas of advise are for debt, consumer issues, claiming welfare benefits, housing problems and employment matters
many citizens advise offices have arrangements with local solicitors who offer clinics to give advice on purely legal issues - solicitors likely to offer a cheap, or free first advice session
law centres
offer free, non-means tested advice to people given in area, and advice and representation in areas where there are no or few solicitors - funded by central and local government - found it difficult to gain enough funding despite covering a need - most law centres have qualified solicitor working full-time supported by volunteers
trade unions
charities
insurance companies
usually offer members free legal advise on range of employment-related matters and other matters such as a personal injury in an accident outside work
members of a union generally pay a subscription which will cover giving advice and employs full-time specialist advisers to deal with work-related issues and who will negotiate with an employer on behalf of their members - in personal injury claims, a union will usually refer a member to a specialist lawyer and then cover the lawyer's costs
include cover for helf with legal fees for advice and taking a case to court
special insurance policies that can be bought to cover legal costs
many charities offer some form of free specialist advice in their area of work - employ either trained as=dvisors or volunteers to provide initial advice and assistance to those who contact them