Since April 15, 2015, a state provided free legal aid has been expanded and for the first time for 8 years, has covered civil and administrative cases. Regarding this novel, the director of Legal Aid Service, Meliton Benidze held a press conference at the press club of analytical web-site “Kvira” (Week).
According to Mr. Benidze, at the initial stage, advocacy service (court representation) will be provided on family and inheritance disputes, as well as on issues of social protection. A lawyer will be appointed in the case if a beneficiary meets insolvency criteria and the court case is evaluated as complex and important.
New advocacy service is created for more than 200 thousand families registered in the unified database of the socially vulnerable families. The service is available in the territorial offices of Legal Aid Service which operate in 11 regions of the country.
The state has been providing free legal aid since 2007. Till today, this service has mainly covered criminal cases. In order to expand legal aid on civil and administrative cases, the Parliament of Georgia made legislative amendments in December, 2014.