ABSTRACT
We are concerned here with a number of issues related to the provision and organisation of legal services, and issues of public access to legal services. The delivery of legal services at the outset of the twenty-fi rst century looks very different from the way things were as recently as 1990. The legal profession has undergone a series of major changes as a result of the Courts and Legal Services Act (CLSA) 1990; the provision of public funding, advice and assistance has been drastically altered as a result of changes introduced in 1999; and the Legal Services Act 2007. The introduction of the ‘conditional fee arrangement’ (no win, no fee) in 1995 was another contentious issue in this area. In the 1950s, only a minute proportion of the population used lawyers to solve problems. Now, in the twenty-fi rst century, a great many individuals, small businesses and organisations are using lawyers often as a matter of course.
