Upcoming Lecture 2013-14

 

Tuesday 10th December 2013:
How to be a Feminist Lawyer
Speakers: Elizabeth Woodcraft, family law barrister and Professor Alison Diduck, Professor of Law at University College London

Wednesday 15th January 2014:
Government’s attack on squatters
Speakers: David Watkinson, barrister and specialist in squatters’ rights and representative from Squatters Action for Secure Rights (SQUASH)

Download the A4 poster (PDF).

Chair of Haldane's Turkish Sister Organisation Assaulted

Our comrade Selcuk Kozağaçlı, Chair of Contemporary Lawyers Association in Turkey, has been detained, along with other lawyers, since January 2013. He is awaiting trial on trumped up charges. These dreadful photographs show him being assaulted after he had refused to give blood and saliva samples to the Turkish police in January.

Photos of the abuse can be found by clicking "Click to read more" below.

Click to read more ...

Support the Strike Flyer

Please distribute widely, around your workplace and in robing rooms at court.

Download the new leaflet: No Confidence - Support the Strike (PDF).

Motion for Trade Unions to Show Support for Legal Aid

The motion below, which can be downloaded here in Word (docx) form, is intended as a model motion for trade unions who want to show their support to the fight to save Legal Aid.

This organisation believes:

1. Legal aid, which celebrated its 60^th birthday recently was a major concession won in the post-war consensus years. This major reform was won by the working class hand in hand with the trade union movement and the Labour Party.

2. Legal aid helped to secure rights and court representation in relation to eviction, welfare and the threat of unjust convictions. It leveled the playing field between the richest who could afford lawyers and the poorest who could not.

3. At the time of its launch, eight out of 10 people were entitled to the scheme’s assistance. The latest figures from the Ministry of Justice reveal fewer than one in three are now eligible.

4. On 1 April 2013, the cuts in the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 came into force. There is no longer legal aid for advice or representation in welfare benefits, employment, family cases (where there is no domestic violence), immigration cases and consumer rights.

5. On 9 April 2013 the government announced a consultation on further legal aid cuts: “Transforming legal aid”. The Government intends to cut a further 17.5% from the criminal defence budget and proposes to introduce a tendering system for large scale regional contracts in relation to duty solicitor work. If these proposals are implemented, we believe that the quality of legal aid services will fall dramatically and there will be an increased risk of miscarriages of justice that could lead to innocent people being convicted of crimes that they did not commit.

6. In addition, further cuts to civil legal aid rates mean that there will no longer be specialist legal aid lawyers providing advice and representation in areas of housing law, education, for people asserting their rights against the state or other civil cases.

7. The legal aid budget only represents only 0.545% of national public spending (or £2.2 billion - the approximate cost of keeping the NHS running for 2 weeks).  Legal aid is provided at a very low cost to the public purse but has the potential to provide access to justice to a great many, most often those most in need.

8. Legal aid should be viewed as part of the wider trade union campaign to defend public services and the welfare state.

This organisation agrees to:

1. Campaign for the defence of legal aid.

2. Support calls for legal aid to be recognised as part of the welfare state.

3. Support publicity efforts including: demands to campaign for the defence of legal aid and for legal aid rates to be restored to pre-1979 levels; and publicising advice and representation on employment law issues, as a stepping stone to a fully funded legal aid system.

4. Affiliate to The Justice Alliance - an alliance of legal organisations, charities, community groups, campaigning groups, trade unions and individuals who are united in the opposition to the Government's proposed attack on legal aid and the criminal justice system[1].

5. Register our support for those in the legal profession taking direct action, including strike action.

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[1] To affiliate please contact Justice Alliance organiser Russell Fraser: russell.fraser@me.com

Motions passed at Haldane AGM - 14 November 2013

Motion opposing the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership agreement

Haldane strongly opposes the EU/ US free trade agreement, otherwise known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership agreement (TTIP) - the purpose of which is to further entrench the power of capital and corporate rights at the expense of everything else - social, environmental and labour standards.

Motion regarding devastation and human catastrophe unfolding in the Phillipines 

Haldane AGM notes:

(i) the devastating and urgent human catastrophe in the Philippines caused by Typhoon Haiyan;

(ii) the need for an effective humanitarian response that will alleviate suffering in the immediate future and further when the passing interest of the world’s media moves on;

(iii) the specific request for financial support by Haldane’s comrades in the Philippines, several of whom visited London in February 2012 as part of the DHRD conference and with whom we have developed strong links and offered solidarity in their struggle  for social and economic rights.

Resolves:

(i) To facilitate a collection at the conclusion of the AGM with any monies raised being sent with a donation of £100 already agreed by the Haldane Executive earlier this week.