REVIEWS
| Published date | 01 July 1976 |
| Date | 01 July 1976 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.1976.tb01468.x |
REVIEWS
LEGAL
SERVICES
IN
BIRMINGHAM. By LEE BRIDGES, BRENDA SUFRIN,
JIM
WHETTON
AND
RICHARD WHITE. [Birmingham: University
of
Birmingham Institute
of
Judicial Administration. 1975.
x
and
243
pp. (including appendices).
f2.80.1
LEGAL
EXPENSE
INSURANCE.
By WERNER
PPENNIGSTORF.
[Chicago:
American Bar Foundation. 1975. ix and 117 pp.
$3.00.1
Legal Services in Birmingham
comprises the first part
of
the long-awaited
results of the University of Birmingham research, led by Richard White, into
the availability,
use
of and unmet need for legal services. It is
a
comprehensive
survey of the pattern of work of solicitors in private practice, especially under
the statutory legal aid and advice schemes in operation in the early
1970s.
Citizens’ Advice Bureaux and voluntary legal advice centres in the City of
Birmingham. The full range of legal services is not covered. Only work to do
with individual and family problems was investigatcd, thus excluding much of
solicitors’ work. Nor were criminal legal aid work
or
the
Bar
included. This
keeps the inquiry within manageable bounds and enables the research to focus
on those areas where legal services appear most inadequate and in need of
extension.
The
authors say in their Conclusion that they are unashamedly oriented
towards the formation of policy, but the present study represents more of
a
clearing
of
the ground before that process begins.
For
it has
a
slightly peculiar
look, being only
a
first instalment. The second part of the research covering
people with potentially legal problems, is to be published separately. This
separation is due partly to the authors’ dissatisfaction with the concept of
“
unmet need for legal services,” which was the original basis
of
the investiga-
tion. Instead they talk in terms of the enforcement of rights. It is recognised that
the change does not fully solve the problem that the concept of unmet need
involves accepting that the legal solution to
a
problem ought to be pursued,
although it does allow investigation of other agencies. The policy-maker has
to deal in “needs” and decide which are to be dealt with by purely legal
services. Thus the Conclusion talks of unmet need in relation to its main
recommendation of an extension and strengthening
of
legal advice centres, in
saying that the work load of the existing ccntres displays
a
need for access to
legal services that is not met by the statutory schemes. In the absence of the
information about people with problems recommendations have to be based on
general experience gained from these centres and from other studies. It is
this factor which gives the rather short introductory theoretical discussion
a
tentative aspect.
Nevertheless, the bulk of the work is
a
fascinating survey, full of interesting
snippets and more general information. Solicitors and the statutory schemes
takc up
160
pages; CABS and voluntary centres take up
53.
It
is
impossible
to summarise the findings,
so
what follows
is
the sketchiest selection. The
subtle way in which the geographical distribution of solicitors follows the
distribution of economic resources is illustrated.
For
instance, it is shown
that legal aid work
is
distributed very unevenly among firms
(e.g.
a
group with
9.9
per cent. of offices in the City, tending to be concentrated in the centre,
did nearly half
of
the magistrates’ court work). Thus the distribution of
particular specialised services may bc very different from that even of solicitors
prepared to take legal aid work. It is suggested that firms which are heavily
weighted towards legal aid work can only operate by being geared up to it with
standardised routines. This carries with it the danger of lower quality, less
personal service, and may also help to explain why other firms could not
easily expand to take larger volumes of such work.
483
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