Over the years it is hard to say how many Immigration firms I have seen hounded out of business, or at least their Legal Aid contracts. I use the word “hounded” without equivocation – at one point I was doing weekly Cost Committee hearings, all with potential existential consequences. Even when we won (and we […]
Here is another case worthy of comment and wider publicity. The full transcript is here. Essentially the trial collapsed because of late service of evidence, by the CPS. The Judge does not specify what “financial considerations” he believes lead to this decision. If it is that the basic costs of effecting this disclosure were too […]
I have just run through the LAA Online Training surrounding the next round of “transformation”, due on 27th January. I particularly liked this in the preamble; “In our view, the training does not have sufficient educational content to warrant formal accreditation”. Indeed this is the case as all it involves is further communication of the […]
This is an interesting case although there is insufficient on the nature of the LAA’s refusal of Legal Aid for me to comment further. The thing is every, single refused application for Exceptional Case Funding (ECF) we have seen has involved much more severe potential Article 6 breaches. Elsewhere the alternative to Legal Aid for […]
Demonstrating that nobody but me cares about our Friday Song feature Dean has just discovered London Grammar despite them featuring here in September So as we are talking about them in the office here they are again;
One impact of the 2/12/13 changes to the scope of Prison Law is that Legal Aid applications, in the Associated CLS Class of Work, under the Criminal Contract, to JR certain decisions are now being refused. The first we saw related to a categorisation decision, now out of scope, which was unceremoniously knocked back. The […]
It is probably unsurprising that any genuinely independent report into post LASPO social welfare advice provision would find the situation badly wanting. No shocks then that this is precisely what the Low Commission has identified. Do read it all however these 2 things stood out to me; At a time when advice calls to NfP […]
A couple of reports have reached us of firms not being paid this months SMPs, one of some considerable importance. This is usually enough to suggest that there might be something of a wider pattern – so if it has happened to you please let us know. It is of course possible that these are […]
It was good to see the level of media coverage of yesterdays day-of-action/strike received – this included both main BBC evening news bulletins and, up here, Look North. They interviewed one young Barrister who explained his pre-tax, pre-VAT and pre-expenses £50 fee, for an all day bail application. By comparison the coverage in the Mail […]
Welcome back and a Happy New Year – if it possible to wish for such a thing right now. My first working day back involved providing the content for the well-attended Northern CLSA training event. Teesside Crown and Mags Courts were reportedly inactive this morning. The venue and tea and coffee were supplied free of […]