The Future of Social Justice in Britain: A NewMissionfor the Community Legal Service

This paper explores the disjuncture in the New Labour Governmentbetween the largest reform in fifty years of the nation’s Legal Aid systemand the concurrent pursuit of progressive anti-poverty, social inclusion,community regeneration, and human rights social policies. The failure ofthe newly created Community Legal Service (CLS) to incorporate thesepolicies reveals the contradictions in the Third Way’s effort to reconcileprivate market, managerial efficiencies with the goals of advancingsocial justice. This failure to adopt a social justice mission for thereformed legal aid and advice system, it is argued, shows the limitedvision of these reforms and defines an unfinished agenda for a secondterm Labour Government. The paper suggests what would constitute asocial justice mission for the CLS.Legal advocacy and advice for the poor and excluded is aneffective engine of social inclusion and fighting poverty throughinsuring and expanding rights to critical benefits and services, andgiving a voice to grievances and empowering people and communities.Yet the major restructuring of the former Legal Aid system lacks a socialjustice mission, as has existed in government funded Legal Services inthe United States; such a mission could ally legal aid reforms with thesocial policy and human rights goals of the Government of ending childpoverty and remedying social exclusion, as well as “join” with variouscommunity renewal efforts.[...]