The mother-of-two from the Highlands qualified for legal aid due to being on universal credit but said no firms were willing or able to take on her case. Some refused her case because she lives in the Highlands, others said they no longer handled civil legal aid, while many simply did not respond.

“It made an extremely difficult, traumatic experience that much harder to deal with,” she told BBC Scotland News. “To get constant rejections just left me in an even deeper pit of despair and despondency.”

Her experience highlights growing concerns about the sustainability of the legal aid system. The Law Society of Scotland has warned that a third of legal aid lawyers are set to retire over the next decade, while low fees have made the profession less attractive to new solicitors.

Unable to secure legal representation, the woman was left without access to legal aid and was only able to obtain a lawyer after receiving donations from friends. “I’m still not out of the woods yet and it might come to the point where I won’t have any representation and I don’t know what I’ll do,” she said.

Lochaber Women’s Aid in Fort William said her struggle was not unique. Deputy manager Donna Campbell commented: “Some of them are being told they’ll have to represent themselves in family court. The women I deal with are scared. They’re scared for themselves, they’re scared for their children.”

The Scottish Women’s Rights Centre reports that victims of domestic abuse typically contact 30 to 50 solicitors before securing representation. The centre’s senior associate, Lyndsay Fleming, said: “Survivors are being told by police, you need to go and get a civil protective order, like a non-harassment order against the perpetrator. If they don’t have that protection from the criminal justice system and they don’t have a civil protective order, they’re left alone and at serious risk of injury and harm.”

Rural areas are among the worst affected. In Orkney, the number of lawyers handling civil legal aid cases has dropped from nine in 2000 to just one in 2025. Michelle Ward from Women’s Aid Orkney said some women were forced to remain in dangerous situations because they had no way out. “It’s a huge issue in rural areas,” she said. “Of the 152 women we supported last year, 24 left because they didn’t feel safe in their own community.”

The Law Society of Scotland has warned of a potential “complete collapse” of the system due to unsustainable fees. Pat Thom, convenor of its civil legal aid committee, said: “The solicitors who have been doing it for 20 years are dropping out because it’s not financially sustainable and the younger solicitors aren’t going into it because it’s not very appealing.”

Siobhian Brown MSP, minister for victims and community safety, called the woman’s ordeal “unacceptable” and said reforms were being prepared. “There has been a 25 per cent uplift in fees since 2019 and it doesn’t seem to be alleviating the problem of solicitors not wanting to take up legal aid,” she said.

The Scottish Legal Aid Board acknowledged gaps in access but said the system was not in crisis. Chief executive Colin Lancaster said: “The traditional method of delivering legal aid is very much rooted in the 1950s. There’s definitely potential for change that would improve the way the system can respond to changes in need.”