Free Legal Assistance in the Kemerovo Region (Kuzbass)

Abstract

The present research featured the state policy that ensures the right on free legal assistance in the Kemerovo region. The author analyzed the efficiency of state and non-state systems of free legal aid in Kuzbass. He believes the state of affairs in this area can hardly be called satisfactory, due to both the lack of political will, funding, information, and public awareness. Kuzbass lawyers and other entities have no motivation to provide free legal assistance as they are discouraged by low fees and red tape. The author believes that it is the non-state system of free legal assistance that should be considered as a priority. Free legal assistance requires significant organizational costs to set up legal clinics at universities and a full-scale system of state legal bureaus. Currently, lawyers are not capable of providing primary qualified free legal assistance in all civil cases. Therefore, it would be reasonable to create conditions for consulting a wide range of citizens by other organizations involved in the system of non-state legal assistance.