Jackie Hodgson has conducted major empirical studies in England and Wales, France, the Netherlands and Scotland. The focus of much of her work is on the rights of the accused - how different criminal procedural models protect the rights of suspects, defendants and appellants, and how these rights can be made effective in practice. Her early work examined the provision of criminal defence services in England and Wales and her most recent publication (Inside Police Custody) examines suspects' rights in several jurisdictions. This recent study focuses in particular on examples of good practice, as well as the practical constraints in making rights effective - including the importance of adequate legal aid funding and of training. Jackie has opposed the current proposals to cut legal aid and the threat that it poses to the lawyer-client relationship.
	James Harrison is Associate Professor in the School of Law at the University of Warwick. He is Co-Director of the Centre for Human Rights in Practice and Academic Lead on Warwick's Global Governance Research Priority Programme. He has previously worked as a practising human rights lawyer and researcher for a range of civil society organisations. He has also worked as a consultant for a number of international organisations including the Council of Europe, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Amnesty International, Article 19, the Canadian Council for International Cooperation and the Scottish Human Rights Commission. James Harrison has co-authored a number of reports exploring the impact of government reforms to legal aid on the ability of vulnerable individuals to vindicate their human rights.
	Asher Flynn is a lecturer in Criminology at Monash University. Asher’s research utilises a socio-legal framework to understand, critique and transform legal policy and practice across three key streams: (1) negotiated guilty pleas and prosecutorial discretion/decision-making; (2) the (un)intended consequences of law in practice and; (3) access to justice and justice de-investment, with a particular focus on Legal Aid. Informed by national and international contexts, Asher’s research examines how accessing justice is negotiated, and the gendered, class-based application and practice of law. In 2013, Asher was awarded the Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology New Scholar Prize for her outstanding contribution in the field of criminology. Outside academia, Asher contributes in advisory roles to a range of legal and government bodies in Australia, and her work is regularly cited in government reports and inquiries. Asher has commented on the impact of the cuts to legal aid on access to justice in Victoria here.
	Natalie Byrom is a PhD student based at the Centre for Human Rights in Practice. Her PhD research is concerned with mapping the impact of cuts to civil legal aid on vulnerable groups using Law Centres and their clients as a case study. She is also keen to explore the different structures for the delivery of legal advice that emerge as a result of the cuts, and to evaluate their efficacy in enabling individuals to access justice. Since commencing her studies, Natalie has authored a report in partnership with ilegal (the largest online forum for civil law practitioners in England and Wales) analysing the impact of government reforms to legal aid on the retention of expertise within the areas of the civil law sector previously funded by legal aid. The report received local and national press coverage. She is currently conducting an evaluation of an alternative model of legal service delivery pioneered by Coventry Law Centre. The evaluation is funded by The Baring Foundation.