History of Civil Legal Assistance Research Guide

This paper sets out the origins of the legal aid system in England and Wales and how it developed over the years until the election of the coalition government in 2010. Written by Sir Henry Brooke for the Bach Commission on Access to Justice and published in September 2017.

This book provides important new research on the history of legal aid and reevaluates older theories, seeking to understand the development of legal aid as part of a transnational phenomenon. It examines how legal aid could be connected to liberalism, state building projects, capitalism, and Progressive-era reform. Edited by Felice Batlan and Marianne Vasara-Aaltonen and published in 2021.

A collection of original, comparative, and historical studies by leading international scholars in the field, offering compelling new interpretations of the rise, decline, and future prospects of legal aid. Edited by Francis Regan, Alan Paterson, Tamara Goriely, and Don Fleming and published in 1999.

Through collaboration between leading experts representing diverse cultures, disciplines and nations, the Global Access to Justice Project is gathering the very latest information on the impact of the world’s major justice systems, analyzing legal, economic, social, cultural and psychological barriers that prevent or inhibit many, and not only the poor, from entering and using the legal system. And because of its unique multidimensional epistemological approach, and broad geographical reach, the project has the ambition to become the most comprehensive survey ever conducted on access to justice to date.

A comparative study offering a broad overview of systems of legal aid throughout the world. Written by Mauro Cappelletti, James Gordley, and Earl Johnson, Jr. and published in 1975.

The Global Study on Legal Aid was initiated in 2014 and presents data gathered in 2015 from both Member States and independent national experts. This global effort coincided with the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by the United Nations General Assembly. The Global Report, Country Profiles and the Case Studies publications of the Global Study on Legal Aid provide an initial overview of the current state of legal aid worldwide. It illustrates how States have striven to safeguard the right to legal aid services in criminal matters and to meet the demand for legal aid services in various civil and administrative matters. Below are the full report. overview, and country profiles.

An analysis comparing the Australian legal aid system to the British, American, and Canadian legal aid systems. Written by Susan Armstrong and published in 2001 by the University of Western Sydney Law Review.

A comprehensive and contextual overview of the legal aid system, including achievements, limitations, program criteria, interests, and influences. Written by Richard L. Abel and published in the UCLA Law Review, volume 32, 1984-1985.