Following on from the previous post entitled Government Legal Aid Changes, here is a legal aid update:
Solicitors in 48-hour action
As solicitors begin a two-day walkout in protest over the government’s criminal legal aid cuts, a Law Society spokesperson said:
‘Some solicitors are taking part in two days of action. Some have chosen not to take part and work normally. The Society will support and respect all of the decisions and choices our members make.
‘We fully understand why some criminal lawyers have reached the point of despair after two decades without increases in legal aid rates, shrinking volumes of work and the MoJ’s further cuts.’
Read more about it at the Law Gazette here.
MoJ announcement on criminal legal aid
Further transitional support
As a result of further discussions with the Law Society, the Lord Chancellor has agreed to make an additional £9m available to fund the introduction of interim payments for solicitors from this summer, a year earlier than had been planned.
View the lawsociety help and support for members and their firms
Interim payments: clarification on implementation
The Law Society sought urgent clarification from the MoJ as to the extent of the delay for advocates and litigators in:
- the implementation of interim payments at the start of trials listed for longer than 10 days
- the re-introduction of cracked-trial fees for elected either-way cases where the prosecution offers no evidence
The above is curated news from the LawSociety in regards to the changes that are happening in Legal Aid.
