Defending Legal Aid

The Law Society succeeded in their application for an expedited hearing to dispute the Legal Services Commission's (LSC) conduct of the tendering process for family legal aid contracts. The High Court granted the application and the hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, 21 September 2010 with judgment expected to be handed down on Friday, 24 September.

Pending the hearing of the case, the court ordered that the new contracts should not be issued, though, the LSC's efforts on appeals and verification is set to continue. For the time being, the LSC has committed to extending civil legal aid contracts by one month.

The Law Society and LSC will meet today to reach an agreement concerning the practical issues regarding the contract extension. More information will be made available to the profession and details of the case will be accessible to affected firms.

For more information see The Law Society's ‘What Price Justice' campaign www.lawsociety.org.uk/defendinglegalaid