Legal Aid

Articles

Just the job

“Don't take this the wrong way but I hope I never see you again.” This is the valedictory that I have received many times from the tearfully grateful and the plain relieved. I don't suppose that architects, doctors, plumbers or roadside mechanics get quite the same expression of thanks. It all rather sums up the absolute nature of what we do: the moment that the jury returns with its verdict and the foreman is asked to “please stand”, the whole room holds its breath. Whether prosecuting or defending, it is an incredibly tense, awful, unbearable moment. I used to be superstitious – writing the 'g' in my notebook and wondering whether I would by some miracle be putting an 'n' in front of it. Now I just close my notebook and pretend that it is not happening. I don't know what the judge feels about a verdict – perhaps the judge really is above it all – but I suspect that where it is possible to have formed a view there is the occasional tingle of nerves.

Leading the way

Firms should embrace the LDP model and recognise the benefits of bringing in non-lawyer professionals with the right skills and knowledge to manage a business, says Viv Williams

Legal aid voices: housing and repossession

Housing advice at the Derby Community Legal Advice Centre should be available within a fortnight but with rising demand the wait is now up four weeks, says Jon Robins

Update: crime and sentencing

Christopher Gutteridge reviews cases involving drug dealing on licensed premises, false rape allegations, criminal damage, child cruelty and blackmail

Plugging the gap

As legal aid turns 60, Jon Robins explores possible solutions to the system's failures

LSC abandons "reckless" push to extend BVT across country but pilot remains

The LSC has abandoned plans to extend best value tendering of criminal legal aid across the country only months after the launch of a pilot scheme in Manchester, Bristol and Somerset.

Solicitors hit by £1,180 practising certificate fee

The practising certificate fee for solicitors has for the first time in history broken the £1,000 mark, rising to £1,180 from October.

Carolyn Regan: legal aid is the fourth plank of the welfare state

The chief executive of the Legal Services Commission is on the 'most wanted' list of many legal aid lawyers. Nothing personal, they say, but Carolyn Regan just happens to be the person presiding over a range of unpopular reforms to the legal aid system initiated by Lord Falconer when he was Lord Chancellor.