Since the enforcement date of the Free Legal Aid Act (1 October 2019), more than 27,000 citizens have used the right to free legal aid and free legal assistance/support.
In terms of free legal aid, 3,672 requests have been made, 3,386 of which have been approved. That makes more 91% of citizens’ requests approved. The majority of citizens have received the needed free legal aid from their local municipal services, while 669 others have been referred to attorneys for this aid.
In terms of free legal assistance/support—which the Act defines, inter alia, as consisting of provision of legal information, help filling out forms, compiling notarial documents and mediation in dispute cases—, 24,355 citizens have benefited from it. That is, 13,873 citizens have received free legal advice, 8,471 have received general legal information or explanations, and 2,011 citizens have been assistance with filling out forms.
The number of free legal support beneficiaries is significantly higher than the number of free legal aid beneficiaries because many units of the local self-government report regularly on the times they provide citizens with legal advice and general legal information.