Kerwoods Jan Thompson
Jan Thompson, managing partner and head of the private client department at Kerwoods, has pledged the Redditch law firm’s support towards a national campaign by The Law Society for legal aid to be re-introduced for early legal advice, particularly in family and housing matters.
It follows research conducted by Ipsos MORI showing a clear statistical link between early legal advice and resolving a problem sooner.
On average, a quarter of people who benefitted from early legal advice were able to resolve their issues within three to four months, whereas for those less fortunate it could take up to nine months.
Consumer wrangles, money/debt troubles, landlord issues, homelessness, benefit payments and employer concerns all featured.
Mrs Thompson said: “These are the sort of nitty-gritty matters which blight the lives of so many.
“As The Law Society has pointed out, everyone knows that if you catch a problem early, you’re more likely to stop it getting worse. The same is true for legal problems – most of the time these are easier, and cheaper, to address early on.
“Unfortunately, many areas of free or subsidised early legal advice were stopped by the Government in 2012. This has meant that people who can’t afford to pay for early legal advice are now left to address their problems alone – and this can create other unnecessary costs for the taxpayer.”
