The Role of Lawyers in Access to Justice
Asian and Comparative Perspectives

Analyses access to justice in Asia and other non-Western jurisdictions, including programmes of mandatory public interest activities.

Helena Whalen-Bridge (Edited by)

9781316517451, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 6 October 2022

470 pages
25 x 17.5 x 2.7 cm, 0.84 kg

To a disturbing degree, we are at the mercy of our time and place. While law may provide relief for some of life's troubles, that requires access to justice. Accessibility is the focus of this volume, which expands analysis of access to justice beyond the US and the UK to Asia and other comparative jurisdictions. Chapters characterise access to justice dynamics in these jurisdictions by addressing how access is understood, how it is achieved or not achieved, and how the jurisdiction should improve. The book addresses some issues seldom addressed in analyses of western jurisdictions, such as paid mandatory legal services and mandatory public interest activities, and provides English translations of relevant regulations. The book expands our understanding of access to justice with a comparative perspective, one that allows readers to identify relationships between access and its constitutive environment.

1. Introduction to understanding and comparing access to justice Helena Whalen-Bridge
Part I. Access to Justice in Asia: 2. Pro bono, legal aid, and the struggle for justice in China Hualing Fu
3. Access to justice in India: Managing multiple mechanisms in a restrictive practice environment Sarasu Esther Thomas
4. Access to justice in Indonesia: Searching for meaning Yunita with Linda Yanti Sulistiawati
5. Access to justice and lawyer independence in Japan Hiroshi Otsuka and Setsuo Miyazawa
6. Improving access to justice in Malaysia: Introspection, purpose, and dynamism Seh Lih Long
7. Political lawyers and the legal occupation in Myanmar Alice Dawkins and Nick Cheesman
8. Alternative lawyering versus pro bono in the Philippines: From challenging an authoritarian government to working with the state George Radics and Alpha Pontanal
9. Access to justice in Singapore: A government and lawyer dynamic Helena Whalen-Bridge
10. Public interest lawyering in South Korea: Standing on the shoulders of giants Takgon Lee and Jaewon Kim
11. A hub, a knot, and a powerhouse: The legal aid foundation and access to justice in Taiwan Ching-Fang Hsu and Yong-Ching Tsai
12. Lawyers and democratic centralism in Vietnam Nguyen Hung Quang
Part II. Comparative Perspectives on Access to Justice: 13. Access to justice and an islamic ethic of justice Arif A. Jamal
14. Lawyering in Indonesia's religious courts: Legal aid, procedural justice, and pragmatism Euis Nurlaelawati
15. Access to justice and legal aid in the Syariah courts in Malaysia: A colourful but threadbare patchwork system Kerstin Steiner
16. The Syariah court of Singapore: Achieving a more formal access to justice Ahmad Nizam Abbas
17. Access to justice in Israel: Rights, legal aid and pro bono in a lawyer dominant system Limor Zer-Gutman and Michal Ofer Tsfoni
18. Vuk'uzenzele – Arise and Act: Lawyers and access to justice in South Africa Helen Kruuse.

Subject Areas: Criminal law & procedure [LNF], Criminology: legal aspects [LAR], Comparative law [LAM], Human rights [JPVH]