Our Objectives

Malawi suffers from a chronic lack of legal advice and representation for the majority of the population. Prisons remain overcrowded with individuals on remand for years before their case is heard before a court, and those living in the districts have little, if any, means of access to justice.

The law society in any country has a responsibility to promote access to justice for all and to play a role in delivering services to the public. In Malawi, pursuant to section 26 of the Legal Education and Practitioners Act, the Law Society has a duty to "protect and assist the public in Malawi on all matters touching, ancillary or incidental to the law" and sections 41 and 42 of the Constitution provide for the right to access to justice and legal remedies but such provisions are illusory without effective mechanisms in place to facilitate access to a lawyer.

The Report of the Law Commission on the Review of the Legal Aid Act, July 2005, envisages the Law Society playing a key role in a future legal aid scheme, in particular, in the contracting out of legal services by the Principal Legal Aid Advocate.

The draft Bill produced by the Law Commission sees the contracting out of cases being done in consultation with the Law Society in order to regulate and ensure that only those members of good ethical standing will be part of the proposed legal aid scheme.

Lawyers who enter into contracts with the Principal Legal Aid Advocate will be paid at a rate which is reasonable but which is below the current prevailing rate. Furthermore, the new draft Legal Practitioner's Bill envisages a certain amount of pro bono activities to become mandatory.

Furthermore, a recent report compiled for Penal Reform International by Professor David McQuoid-Mason of the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, University of Kwazulu-Natal in Durban, highlights the role of the Law Society in entering cooperation agreements with the Legal Aid Department and Malawi Human Rights Commission to take on cases, through its members, due to the shortage of lawyers.

In light of these future developments, the Society is working on setting up a pilot legal aid scheme. It is considering a scheme which will involve a Legal Aid Coordinator based at the Secretariat and a Legal Aid Fund which will allow for payment of lawyers' expenses and fixed fee for cases. The scheme would target priority areas such as prisons, districts and human rights test cases. It would obtain referrals from, and work with, the Legal Aid Department, the Malawi Human Rights Commission, Penal Reform International and civil society groups, amongst others.

Further details about the Legal Aid scheme will be available on this website as the scheme develops. If you require further information, or are a member and would like to get involved, please contact the Executive Director at the Secretariat.