Call for legal education in schools

SCOLAG appeals for better understanding of the legal system and awareness of rights

News, 26 April 2005

The Scottish Legal Action Group (SCOLAG) is calling for legal education to be provided in Scots schools.

This is one of nine key reforms intended to improve awareness among tomorrow’s citizens of their rights and responsibilities and increase access to the civil justice system. The package is presented today by SCOLAG to Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson.

SCOLAG Convenor Robert Sutherland, explained: “There is a clear need for Scots to have a better understanding of the civil justice system of their own country.

“SCOLAG’s aim is bring knowledge and understanding of the legal system to communities throughout Scotland. By teaching children in schools about their legal system, legal rights and responsibilities and the main rights that affect their lives we can have a society that is better informed and whose members are better able to look after their own interests.”

He praised the work of community based law centres such as those in Govan and Castlemilk in helping individuals, but pointed out that there is not a single community-based law centre in Scotland outwith the central belt.

He said: “This is potentially an opportunity for improvement and we would hate to see it wasted. We would hope that there are improvements which could be made for the benefit of the public which the system is supposed to serve without falling into the trap of seeing this as an excuse to cut back on the resources available.”

The full package of civil justice improvements submitted to the Justice Minister is as follows:

Schools should teach a citizenship studies module which includes some knowledge of the civil and criminal justice systems together with a framework which explains citizens' principal social and legal rights and responsibilities - including consumer rights, housing rights, money advice, parental rights and responsibilities, parenting skills, children’s rights;

Community based law centres ought to be actively promoted the length and breadth of the country;

There is a public benefit to be gained by ensuring that legal advice is provided by people who are trained to a consistent minimum standard;

There is a public benefit to be gained by clients being represented in court by knowledgeable representatives;

Minimum quality standards should be developed for volunteer legal advice and representation services;

The scope for procedural changes to encourage early resolution of disputes should be examined;

Further development of specialist courts should be considered;

Judicial review procedures should be revised to deliver the speedy resolution of these cases which was promised when the existing procedures were devised;

The potential for developing mediation services, and in certain types of cases requiring that these are used before commencing litigation and as an entitlement to receipt of legal aid, should be examined;

The potential to exploit technological developments in order to improve access to justice and deliver a quality based civil justice process should be investigated.