4,500 waiting to meet legal aid solicitor

ABOUT 4,500 people are waiting for a first appointment with a solicitor under the state’s free legal aid scheme, which provides assistance in civil matters.

The Legal Aid Board, which runs 29 law centres nationwide, is finding it increasingly difficult to cope with the increasing number of applications for assistance.

In the first six months of this year alone, more than 10,000 people sought help — about the same as in the whole of 2007.