Legal Aid: Promoting Sustainable Development Through Greater Access to Justice

The term “legal aid” is most commonly defined as state-funded legal advice, assistance, and representation provided to criminal suspects and defendants and to parties in civil proceedings who cannot otherwise afford legal services (Rice 2017). The key aim of legal aid provision is therefore to ensure access to justice on an equal basis to all. Some conceptions of legal aid also encompass legal education, access to legal information, and alternative dispute resolution mechanisms and restorative justice processes (Knaul 2013; Kyiv Declaration 2007). Legal aid may involve advocating for law reforms and pursuing social justice aims such as improving the access to justice of vulnerable groups and alleviating structural inequalities (Jüriloo 2015). The more expansive conceptions of legal aid are, however, considered controversial (Abel 1996).