'Stand up for legal aid' brings the house down

Justice Alliance set to work last night to highlight the "hypocrisy" of the government's reforms to the legal system by organising a free comedy night on the launch day of the much criticised Global Law Summit.

In their support for the fight for legal aid and access to justice, stars of stand-up, TV and radio - such as Stephen K Amos, Ian Stone, and Stewart Lee - covered high-profile current affairs including the current conflict in Ukraine, terrorism, and racism.

Prior to the kicking off the fun filled night at the Union Chapel in Islington, the audience - which included solicitors, barristers, journalists, students - heard from one of the founders of the Justice Alliance and criminal defence solicitor at Birnberg Peirce and Partners, Matt Foot.

Foot told the sold out comedy extravaganza that the government's controversial LASPO legislation was the complete opposite of Magna Carta and amounted to a "bully's charter".

The criminal solicitor continued by telling the 900 audience members that the best way to celebrate legal aid was to "get rid of" the Lord Chancellor, Chris Grayling.

Foot added that if the government looked to recoup the tax avoided by HSBC customers "we could pay for legal aid".

The audience were then invited to watch a film produced by the Justice Alliance, featuring Stephen Fry and Jo Brand, which detailed the importance of continuing the fight to save Legal Aid.

The film featured stories of innocent people wrongfully convicted of crimes, homeless children in need of shelter, Gurkhas denied the right to live in the UK after serving in the British Army, and victims of domestic violence - all of whom would not have received legal aid under current government reforms.

Depressing tales of the current legal system were, in theory, perhaps not conducive to a night of fun and frolics but, to their credit, the host of comedians soon had the audience rolling in the aisles.

Conscious of not wanting to be like the annoying colleague at the water cooler, trying to rehash jokes they heard the night before, SJ will not be retelling any of the jokes from last night. Especially the one about what Dave Cameron's appearance reminded at least one comedian of.

John van der Luit-Drummond is legal reporter for Solicitors Journal