In the hiatus following the cancellation of family contracts last autumn two new family fee schemes, due for implementation, were postponed. The Legal Services Commission (LSC) has now announced their belated introduction from 9 May. The new schemes are: Read the full story

The tendering process for the Legal Aid scheme for new family law cases is unlawful and must be changed, the High Court ruled last week. The decision follows a three day hearing of the Law Society’s application for judicial review at the Divisional Court. Read the full story

In February the Legal Services Commission (LSC) announced that, as current civil legal aid contracts come to an end on 13 October 2010, any organisation who wishes to deliver legal aid work in Family (including Family Mediation) or Social Welfare Law from 14 October 2010 would need to apply for Read the full story

Legal aid minister Jonathan Djanogly has announced plans to scrap a £2.6 million per year training contract grant scheme. Since the scheme began in 2002 more than 750 trainees have benefited from grants of over £20,000 each to help cover their training fees and salary. The Legal Services Commission gave the grants to legal aid firms to allow them to Read the full story

The Government has wasted no time in pursuing its aim to review the legal aid system as promised in the Coalition programme for government published in May.

In a written ministerial statement to Parliament on 23 June, Secretary of State for Justice Kenneth Clarke set out the background of the Government’s immediate priority to reduce Read the full story

The Ministry of Justice has announced a further analysis of expert witness fees paid in legal aid work. It is seeking the support of civil and criminal legal aid solicitors in a data collection exercise being conducted on their behalf by the Legal Services Commission. Read the full story

All crime legal aid providers have to sign a contract with the Legal Services Commission. The current Unified Contract (Crime) has been extended to 13 July 2010, and the new 2010 Standard Crime Contract will come into force on 14 July. The LSC has just announced the new tendering procedure, and the main points are as follows. Read the full story

Very high cost cases (VHCCs) are those estimated to last more than 40 days at trial, or 25 days if involving complicated combinations of factors. Last year there were about 400 defendants funded by legal aid in 100 VHCC criminal cases at a total cost of £100 million. Read the full story

On the 2nd April a joint statement was issued by the Law Society, Legal Services Commission and Ministry of Justice regarding the agreement they reached on the unified contract. This follows the recent Court of Appeal judgement about the civil legal aid contract. Read the full story

The Legal Services Commission (LSC), after lengthy discussions with the Law Society, has agreed a number of changes to its legal aid proposals. The Law Society is holding free events to update civil and criminal legal aid practitioners and:- Read the full story