Lack of legal aid facilities
- Denial of right to legal aid
- Inadequate legal aid
Nature
The vast majority of people in the world have no access to adequate legal service. The major problem is financial. Most people do not have the means to hire a legal professional. At the same time the legal profession cannot provide all of the required services free of charge. In some countries and regions within countries there is an acute shortage of lawyers, for example in the Northern Territory of Australia there are only 23 lawyers. In some places the large number of individual eligible for aid blocks access to the service. Distance and lack of communication facilities. Lawyers or clients would have to spend days travelling to provide the service. Language differences may hinder legal aid services. In large metropolitan areas, like Los Angeles, or multilingual countries, like India, dozens of languages are spoken and providing lawyers or even translators may be difficult. Legal aid offices may not be near courts. The high cost of administrating legal aid may prevent adequate services being provided. The legal profession may not support efforts to provide legal aid. The government or large segments of the public may oppose legal aid services. Where legal aid is provided, the government may influence the professional decisions of lawyers providing the service. The public may be unaware or distrustful of the service.