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Article

26 Mar 2012

Author:
Lord Daniel Brennan QC in Guardian [UK]

The legal aid bill will enable multinationals to exploit the poor

[P]arliament will take a vote on the legal aid bill, which will either secure the reputation of British justice being fair and just or leave victims of human rights abuses and environmental crimes in developing countries with no access to our system of justice...The only beneficiaries will be the multinational companies...If passed, this legislation will prevent such companies from facing any legal challenge in the first place, because the claimants will not be able to find lawyers in this country who can afford to bring such claims...a cross-party group of peers are asking the justice minister, Lord McNally, to make a simple exception for these cases, which are very rare and come at no cost to the British taxpayer. [refers to Trafigura]

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