Being an attorney is accompanied by a social obligation towards the fellow human beings who do not have the means to pay for legal advice. Already in 1902, a working group was established in the Folketing (the Danish Parliament) and this working group proposed that an assigned counsel should ‘for no considerable payment’ be obliged to ‘advice persons without means, who are referred to him, in relation to circumstances which they wished to be the subject-matter of a case before the court to which he is engaged, including in particular to draw up and file a settlement complaint and an application for free legal aid’. After several negotiations and alterations, the proposal was put on the Statute Book in 1906.
By the passing of the Administration of Justice Act in 1917, the conditions for persons without means were significantly improved. Thus, a chapter about free legal aid was entered in the Act. Even though the group of persons and the case areas were strictly limited, the change implied that the function of legal aid now also reached into the courtrooms. In the years that followed, the case areas which could fall under the rules for free legal aid were still expanded. Today, the conditions for free legal aid are:
- Reasonable grounds for bringing an action
- Paying legal costs would lead to an undue financial burden Through the years, it has always been clear that there was a constant need for legal aid schemes. This is despite the fact that there are a large number of opportunities for free legal aid.
Even though attorneys can no longer be ordered to provide free legal aid, Attorney Ole Erlich-Eriksen wishes to maintain this spirit, and is therefore associated with established legal aid schemes.
Thus, Attorney Ole Erlich-Eriksen acts as advisor in Københavnske Advokaters Retshjælp (Copenhagen Attorneys’ Legal Aid).