2. The Chairperson and CEO of Legal Aid South Africa (LASA) gave details of LASA's Strategic Plan 2009-12. LASA aims to provide quality, professional legal services to ensure effective access to justice for the poor and vulnerable. Its outcomes and objectives are contained in its Strategic Plan, and focus on maintaining a sustainable and financially stable organisation, increasing the outreach of quality legal services to clients and implementing actions emanating from the CJS review. The LASA identified the negative growth of the overall budget as a challenge. Additional challenges include the need to ensure that there is one practitioner per court, especially at busy Regional courts, and the potential cost to LASA of complying with court orders that have directed that it provide legal aid in certain matters to defendants who have means.