Gadejuristen [the street lawyers]: Offering legal aid to socially marginalised people

Abstract

Gadejuristen [The Street Lawyers] is an outreach legal aid organisation in Denmark that targets vulnerable groups on the streets, such as homeless, drug addicts, and sex workers. The welfare state was established to compensate for society’s shortcomings; yet, many socially marginalised people are not able to navigate in the welfare system due to its structure and the way it functions. Gadejuristen designs its legal aid and characteristic street lawyer method to meet the specific needs of the disadvantaged user group. At an individual level, Gadejuristen focuses on the user’s needs, and at a societal level, the organisation lobbies for new policies and laws, and changes in public institutions’ practices, in order to improve both the target group’s access to rights and the living situation of socially marginalised people.