About ILAG

The International Legal Aid Group (ILAG) was formed in 1992 by a small group of academics and administrators led by Professor Alan Paterson, University of Strathclyde, and Mr Wouter Meurs, The Netherlands Ministry of Justice. Its first academic members were drawn from of the International Working Group on Legal Professions in the International Sociological Association/ Research Committee on Sociology of Law, which had an established record in comparative legal aid research, and investigating the impact of comparable developments in funding and delivery. They included the most eminent researchers in the developed countries. Initially legal aid administrators from The Netherlands, Scotland and England formed the ILAG administrative membership. This has now grown to include CEOs and other policy-makers from Canada, the United States, Sweden, Norway, the Republic of Ireland, New Zealand and Australia.

In 1994 the Ministry of Justice in The Netherlands participated as co-host with ILAG in organising an international conference at The Hague which brought together legal aid scholars and researchers, CEOs and agency policy makers. Participation was restricted to 40 attendees on an invitation only basis (see cover and table of Contents for "Legal Aid in the Post-Welfare State Society" conference in the Appendix). The conference was one of most prestigious ever held in the field. Following two and a half days of private conclave, attendees participated in a larger one-day open conference in Amsterdam, led by the Minister of Justice and leading members of the legal profession and practising lawyers in The Netherlands.

Following on the success of The Hague conference a second ILAG meeting was heldin Edinburgh, Scotland, in June 1997. Those attending the Edinburgh conference included CEOs of legal aid programmes in Australia (NSW), England and Wales, Ireland, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden and Scotland, together with most of the leading legal aid researchers in the world. The Lord President of the Court of Session (the Chief Judge of Scotland) hosted a reception for all conference participants. Once again, the ILAG meeting was followed by a one-day conference open to the local legal profession. In Edinburgh this conference was opened by the Scottish Minister responsible for legal aid, and attended by the leaders of the legal profession and practising lawyers.

The Edinburgh conference confirmed the value of the ILAG meetings, and in June 1999 its third meeting was convened in Vancouver. The Vancouver meeting continued the proven model of facilitating interaction between leading academic researchers and legal aid administrators, including CEOs and policy makers, from legal aid programs in British Columbia, Australia, England and Wales, Ireland, the Netherlands, the United States, New Zealand and Scotland. The Vancouver conference focused on cutting edge proposals to address the ever-rising cost of legal aid. Topics addressed by participants included maintaining quality and ensuring value for money, prioritisation, rationing and needs assessment, contracting for legal services, exploration of the Canadian mixed delivery model, the contemporary, public defender, litigation insurance, community legal services, alternative legal aid providers and emerging legal technologies.

The Vancouver conference received broadly-based financial support from such organisations as the Office of the Attorney-General (British Columbia), Legal Aid Board (England), the Lord Chancellors Office (UK), the Canadian Department of Justice and the University of British Columbia. Significant 'in kind' support was provided by the Scottish Legal Ad Board, the University of Strathclyde and the Legal Services Society of British Columbia. Like previous ILAG meetings, the closed conference was followed by a Saturday open conference that was addressed by the Attorney-General of British Columbia, and attended by conference participants and members of the Canadian legal profession.

Professor Alan Paterson is the Chair of ILAG. For a list of all ILAG participants to date, please click here.

Publications

Previous ILAG meetings have been published as conference proceedings:

Legal Aid in the Post-Welfare State Society, International Conference on Legal Aid, April 13th - 16th, 1994, The Hague/Amsterdam, (Ministry of Justice, The Netherlands, 1995).

Legal Aid - How Much Justice Can We Afford?, International Legal Aid Conference, Edinburgh 18-21 June 1997, Vols 1 & 2, (Scottish Legal Aid Board, 1997).

Jonathon J T Reilly, Alan A Paterson & W Wesley Pue, Legal Aid in the New Millennium: Papers Presented at the International Legal Aid Conference, University of British Columbia, 16-19 June 1999, (Vancouver, The Legal Beagle, 1999) (selected papers also appear in (2000) 33 University of British Columbia Law Review and at http://faculty.law.ubc.ca/ilac).