Free legal aid in the United States of America

About the author:

Viktor V. Rossiev, postgraduate student, assistant of the Department of Theory and History of State and Law of Law Institute, Kemerovo State University, Kemerovo, Russia, rossiev1997@mail.ru

Abstract:

Free legal aid is one of the fundamental institutions of ensuring human rights guaranteed both by the norms of international law and the norms of national legislation of most civilized countries in the world. It is based on the idea of providing legal assistance for the public good — the “pro bono” principle. This article considers the system of free legal aid operating in the territory of the USA in a positivist and historical-legal context. The tendency of gradual expansion of the scope of application of free legal aid from exclusively criminal cases to the spheres of civil and administrative proceedings is revealed. Special attention is paid to the subject composition of the system of free legal aid in the USA: the role of the Bar, legal clinics at higher education institutions that train students in legal specialties, legal services corporation, and other participants. The results identify the groups of persons eligible to receive pro bono legal aid, as well as types and methods of providing pro bono legal aid, mechanisms of financing of the relevant activities. The advantages of the US model of free legal aid include: public funding of the private sector of free legal aid, wide spread of the idea of pro bono assistance among representatives of the legal community, and developed system of clinical education in US law schools, among others; its disadvantages are: insufficiently clear normative fixation of the procedure, forms of free legal aid, subject composition of persons entitled to receive this type of assistance, the responsibility of the legal profession for the provision of free legal aid, the responsibility of the legal profession for the provision of free legal aid, and the responsibility of the legal profession for the provision of free legal aid. These advantages and disadvantages of the American system of free legal aid have share an insight into the modernization of the Russian institute of qualified legal aid provided to persons on a pro bono basis.

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