In an effort to ensure that poor defendants receive the effective assistance of counsel, many states have adopted indigent defense standards for public defender offices. The present study focuses on Indiana public defender offices that participate in the Indiana Public Defender Commission’s (IPDC) standards and reimbursement program. This study assesses the extent to which resource needs and workload demands influence participation in the IPDC reimbursement program. Analysis of public defender data from counties across the state shows that counties that opt into the state’s reimbursement program have, in general, greater resource needs than those counties that do not pursue state reimbursement. In addition to the comparison of counties that participate in the state’s reimbursement program with those that do not, this study also takes a closer look at the attorneys who serve as public defenders in participating counties, assessing the effect that standards seem to have on attorney qualifications, compensation, and workload. This research points the way for future avenues of research that might further evaluate the differences between counties that participate in the IPDC standards and reimbursement program and those that do not. / The right to counsel for indigent defendants -- Indigent defense in the United States -- Public defender offices in Indiana -- Theory and hypothesis -- Data sources and methodology -- Results -- Analysis -- Commentary. / Department of Political Science

Thesis (M.J.S.)--University of Nevada, Reno, 2006. / "December, 2006." Includes bibliographical references. Library also has microfilm. Ann Arbor, Mich. : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [2008]. 1 microfilm reel ; 35 mm. Online version available on the World Wide Web.

Care ethics is primarily about responding to needs. Yet, surprisingly, attempts to apply the ethics of care in the domain of law have paid almost no attention to the concept of legal needs. This study fills that gap by systematically defining legal needs. It does this by revising current understandings of legal need through a unified conceptual framework for the philosophy of needs and a comparative analysis of legal action, and its major alternatives in dispute resolution and prevention. The conception of legal need that results is both more sensitive to preventative functions of the law and opens the door to a much wider range of policy options beyond legal aid. Legal needs are found to be a special case of institutional needs, i.e. needs that cannot be satisfied without an institution. I argue that the existence of institutional needs means institutions, rather than any particular actor within them, can be caregivers, but not all conceptions of the ethics of care are compatible with this kind of need. Joan Tronto’s conception of care is found to be the most accommodating and is used as a framework for a series of policy recommendations to move us towards a caring legal system.

The theme of this Master's degree thesis is Legal Aid in the Czech Republic, Slovak Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany - A Comparison. The appeal of the selected issue results from its notable relation to history, legal philosophy or human rights, yet mainly from the possibility to compare different approaches to the provision of legal aid applied by each individual state. From a formal point of view, the thesis is composed of five chapters, the second and the third chapter being further divided into parts and sections. The introductory chapter outlines in the most general way the problem of the effect of economic inequality of individuals on the enforcement and protection of their rights. It also indicates the primary division of the text. Chapter Two comprises two parts: The first one briefly deals with the historic evolution of legal aid from the Ancient Rome to the expansion of the concept of equality before the law, as it emerged during the Enlightenment. Special attention is given to personality of Yves of Kermartin (1253 - 1303) and his legacy, which has inspired the lawyers of the following centuries. Part Two presents the theoretical fundaments of legal aid. Its third section, which deals with legal aid in relation to human rights, is of exceptional volume and importance. This...

Thesis. 1976. Ph.D.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Political Science. / Microfiche copy available in Archives and Dewey. / Bibliography: leaves 240-243. / Ph.D.

Master's thesis. / Format: PDF. Bibl.

This thesis takes as its starting point the proposition that the restricted development of law centres in the United Kingdom has been a result of the exercise of power by the legal profession. This was based on the evidence of the legal profession's influence on the initial development of public legal services policy and the profession's active opposition to the emergence of the first law centres in the United Kingdom. However, law centres remained on the margins of public legal services policy, despite the retreat of the profession from its original position. Thus, it was suggested that the key issue was not simply the power of the profession, but also the power of the dominant paradigms of legal practice, legal needs and legal services. This is reflected in the private practice and casework orientation of the legal aid system. Law centres challenge the dominant paradigms in many ways. They offer a multi-faceted approach to the resolution of the legal and socio-economic problems of the poor and do so in a not-for-profit, community-controlled and often collectivist context. Through quantitative and qualitative techniques employed in a multiple case study setting, this study sought to test the 'power hypothesis' empirically. Focusing on all of the law centres operating at any time between 1974 and 1997 in Strathclyde and the West Midlands, detailed accounts of significant events and periods in each centre's birth, life and, where appropriate, death were constructed. The thesis provides for the first time a social historical narrative of the development of law centres in these two locations. These accounts reveal that the profession and the dominant paradigms have had an impact on law centres in many significant ways. However, several of the greatest difficulties faced by law centres cannot be explained by reference to this conceptual framework. Accordingly, the thesis concludes that a wider theoretical framework is required to explain the development of law centres. This wider framework must draw on several existing traditions. It should recognise the importance of community, local and ethnic politics; social exclusion and ethnicity; and organisational and change management. However, it must also recognise the power of the legal profession and the dominant paradigms, as the additional challenges this brings distinguish the experience of law centres from that of other radical, community organisations.

Thesis (J.S.M.)--Stanford University, 2004. / Submitted to the Stanford Program in International Legal Studies at the Stanford Law School, Stanford University. "May 2004." Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

The South African law and legal system can and should be a mechanism through which the lives of all resident there are enhanced through the safeguarding and advancement of the fundamental rights guaranteed in its Bill of Rights. This thesis focuses on ‘legal aid’ service delivery (broadly speaking) for the indigent in a particular locality by and through registered law clinics, other legal services providers and via other means in civil rather than criminal matters. In this regard there continue to be very substantial differences between the proper access to civil justice requirements of constitutional South Africa and the actual situation which has existed since the dawn of South Africa’s democratic era which continues unabated. Justice and equality are promised to all in South Africa, yet due to gaps in the ‘net’ of free legal services provided to the indigent, the ability to pay for legal services in civil cases often remains the deciding factor. This study examines the constitutional obligations which, it is argued, apply to the provision of free civil legal services to impoverished people in South Africa. This research considers the law as a vector for necessary positive transformation in the daily lives of those resident in South Africa, which is considered within the country’s woefully unequal socio-economic situation. It builds upon existing research and court authority which show the function of access to justice as an important promoter of the type of society envisaged by the South African Constitution - one where the enjoyment of justice and equality are within the reach of all. However, at present, if one can afford the expensive services of lawyers in civil matters, then access to justice is far more readily attainable. But the opposite is true where someone is denied meaningful access to justice through a lack of legal representation because they cannot afford prohibitively high lawyers’ costs (and disbursements) and no adequate alternatives are provided for by the state or through other means. In these circumstances a vulnerable, unrepresented litigant in a civil case faces a greatly increased likelihood of being denied proper access to a daunting and intricate legal system. There are two main reasons for concentrating on free legal services to the ‘needy’ in civil rather than criminal matters. In the first place, all available statistics show that a huge proportion of legal aid services in South Africa has been and continues to be dispensed in criminal rather than civil cases. Secondly, there has been minimal research or case authority in South Africa on legal aid and other free legal services for impoverished people in civil matters. This thesis examines the state of free civil legal service provision and the need for such assistance within the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality, one of South Africa’s largest metropoles. This analysis includes an empirical study of the requests for free civil legal services in a particular year by qualifying potential clients in eThekwini and the degree to which free legal service providers are meeting or failing to meet those needs. The study considers the legal service provision in such matters by legal non-governmental organisations, state-supported legal service providers and the work of legal professionals in private practice acting pro bono. The thesis then proposes a model for eThekwini for coordinating (and concurrently improving) civil legal aid services, pro bono legal work and other forms of free legal assistance - like community service by senior law students and law graduates - in response to the particular needs and circumstances facing the indigent there. When referring to the concept of ‘legal aid services’, this research concentrates on legal advice, assistance and representation to indigent clients. However, the promotion of legal rights awareness to such clients is often necessary to open their eyes to the possibility of legal avenues, where appropriate, to improve their situations. Therefore this study also considers - albeit to a lesser degree - this more indirect form of legal assistance through the dissemination of legal knowledge in an accessible form to clients who would qualify for legal aid assistance. The work concludes by briefly postulating the likely appropriateness (and/or limitations) of the aforementioned ‘free civil legal service model for the indigent’ beyond eThekwini.

Bibliography: leaves 120-126. / The perspective of this dissertation is one grounded in taking an option for the poor and the oppressed in the South African context. Ultimately, this perspective is a theological belief. The perspective is thus that of an explicit choice against apartheid and for social justice. This choice is made on the basis of a social analysis of the South African context. The attempt to write this dissertation from the perspective of the poor and the oppressed is unlikely to succeed completely. As a privileged white, the perspective of the author cannot be fully identified with that of the poor and the oppressed in South Africa. Nonetheless, the attempt is made to write this dissertation from a liberating perspective.