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Free aid

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Historical Background

The history of free legal aid is as old as the history of lawyers, but not as old as the history of law itself. Law was invented when social developments led to the creation of a state. First law was customary and not formalised. The Code of Hammurabi, considered to be one of the oldest formalised legal texts, was most probably composed around 3000 years ago. However, people had to manage without lawyers for a very long time, despite further developments of written law. Oratorical and miscellaneous skills were what determined success during legal proceedings.

Although ancient Greeks were the ones to create the foundations of the Western civilisation, the concepts of State, politics, justice, and rule of law, and even Greek sophists (5th and 6th centuries B.C.) already acknowledged the social role of public speakers, presenting the views of the people or their own, the legal professions were only invented in Ancient Rome. The current professions of attorney and counsel stem from the Roman professions of advocatus and cognitor.

Advocatus was the plenipotentiary of a party in the legal proceeding and offered legal advice and help both at civil and criminal courts.

It would seem natural, that first a profession is created, and only then is it done pro bono. Nowadays lawyers are seen as high-paid professionals, who from time to time do pro bono work. However, legal help was initially free of charge. After a certain time, happy clients started paying a voluntary fee. Eventually, the professionalisation of legal services made lawyers establish fees for their work.

The expression pro bono (pro bono publico – for the public good) used nowadays comes from Latin. It describes professional services performed voluntarily and free of charge, in the name of public interest.

The legal aid system in Great Britain is a model example of free legal aid. It offers help at local and state levels both before trials and during them. Its backbone are NGOs financed by the State.

Until 2015 free legal aid in Poland was offered by a number of individuals, mainly lawyers working pro bono, but also by parliamentary and senatorial offices. Student law clinics followed a similar idea. The first university legal advisory office was created on the 1st of October 1997 at the Jagiellonian University’s Law Department. Further, similar initiatives were organised within the Foundation of University Legal Advisories.

The creation of a universal system of free legal advice and civic counselling for persons who, due to their material status or life situation, do not have the possibility to obtain paid legal aid was finally considered justified. This resulted in the enactment of the act of 5 August 2015 on free legal aid, free counselling and legal education. This is the first legal regulation in Poland that defined the organisation of the free legal aid system and the main principles of its provision.

The act of 15 June 2018 amending the act on free legal aid and legal education and some other acts (Dz. U. 2018 poz. 1467) introduced free civic counselling and free mediation into the system of free assistance. Almost two years later, by the act of 14 May 2020 on amending certain acts in the area of protective measures in connection with the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus (Dz. U. 2020 poz. 875), the possibility was made available for all citizens to receive advice on free assistance during the pandemic in a remote mode, i.e. using means of remote communication, i.e. telephone or instant messaging (e.g. Skype or Teams).

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