About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

40 Melb. U. L. Rev. 207 (2016-2017)
Legal Aid and Access to Legal Representation: Redefining the Right to a Fair Trial

handle is hein.journals/mulr40 and id is 215 raw text is: 







            LEGAL AID AND ACCESS TO LEGAL
            REPRESENTATION: REDEFINING THE
                     RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL

               ASHER FLYNN,* JACQUELINE HODGSON,
                         JUDE   MCCULLOCHt AND
                            BRONWYN NAYLOR*

 The unmet demand for legal aid generally and for criminal law matters in particular, has
 grown in tandem  with the expansion of crime control and increased restrictions on
funding for publicly funded welfare and support services. This article examines the
connection between legal aid, legal representation and the right to a fair trial. It presents
an  in-depth case study of Victorian case law and policy development to illuminate
dilemmas  in the prioritised allocation of legal aid resources in serious criminal trials. It
then compares the Victorian courts' approach to a fair trial with the tenets of current
European  Court of Human  Rights jurisprudence regarding the scope and timing of an
accused person's right to access a lawyer. The comparison underlines the narrow
definition of fair trial under Victorian common law, relative to Europe, where a fair trial
is interpreted more broadly to include the right to legal representation during police and
pre-trial investigations. The article questions whether international developments in
access to legal aid for criminal trials and the extension of legal aid and representation to
pre-trial procedures, most notably through the Salduz case (heard in the European Court
of Human  Rights), may inspire change in Victoria.

                                 CONTENTS

    I  In tro d u ction .............................................................................................................. 20 8
    II Hum  an Rights and the Right to  a Fair Trial......................................................... 214
    III Victorian Challenges to  Legal Aid  Policy............................................................. 218


    BA (Hons), PhD (Monash); Senior Lecturer, School of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts,
    Monash University.
    LLB (Hons), PhD (Birmingham); Professor, School of Law, University of Warwick.
  t LLB, BCom, PhD  (Melb); Professor, School of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts, Monash
    University.
    BA (Hons), LLB (Hons), LLM (Monash), MPhil, PhD (Cantab); Associate Professor, Faculty
    of Law, Monash University.


207

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

profiles profiles most