An Update from the Law Society’s Head of Justice Richard Miller

1. Criminal Legal Aid Review

Over the past year an independent review, chaired by Sir Christopher Bellamy QC, has been looking at the fundamental principles of fee schemes for criminal legal aid in the round.

The final report was published on 13 December 2021, and finds that rates are too low, firms are dropping out, there is concern as to whether the sector will be economically viable in the short term and an immediate injection of resources is needed to sustain the sector. It proposes a 15% pay increase for criminal legal solicitors, and echoes recommendations we've raised in our campaigning work.

The government published its response to the report on 15 March 2022 and has opened a consultation which closes 7 June 2022. In the meantime, the Law Society is meeting with ministers and officials, liaising with the Criminal Bar Association, engaging with the All Party Parliamentary Group on Legal Aid and select committee staff, as well as liaising with media on this issue. This is all with a view to encouraging the Ministry of Justice to make an across the board increase in rates on the existing structure, and then to work with us on the detail of the restructuring over a longer period of time.

An overview of the Law Society’s work on Criminal Legal Aid to date can be found on our website. An overview of our work on Civil Legal Aid is also available, as are our updated Civil Legal Aid heat maps.

2. Means test review

As part of its Legal Support Action Plan the government is reviewing how it decides who is eligible for legal aid support. The review was meant to conclude in 2020 but remains outstanding.

Whilst this review remained outstanding the Law Society has supported two legal challenges, brought by Public Law Project which have resulted in positive legislative changes being made in this area in January 2021 and April 2021.

An explicit mention of the means review in the Spending Review 2021 leads us to be optimistic that means thresholds will be raised. We have also been pushing for other changes, such as making some areas non-means-tested, and reducing the administrative burden on firms. It remains to be seen how successful we are on these issues.

An overview of the Law Society’s work surrounding the legal aid means test review can be found on our website. The government’s Legal Support Action Plan is available to download.

3. Legal aid contracts

The Law Society is currently engaging with the Legal Aid Agency to consider several potential changes to the next civil legal aid contract.

1. Office presence – Can the requirement to have a physical office be relaxed or altered, to reduce the financial burden on firms whilst maintaining geographical coverage of face-to-face services? 2. Supervision – Can the requirements around supervision be further relaxed to enable greater virtual and hybrid working? 3. Rolling contracts – Can we move to a system of rolling contracts to give firms more opportunities to apply for contracts and to give firms greater business certainty once they have a contract? 4. Audit – Can we improve the balance between managerial audits and peer review, to reduce the administrative burden on firms whilst improving the quality of work?

Should you wish to share your experiences or any other feedback on the above criteria, our contact details are at the bottom of this article.

4. Court reform

The HMCTS digitisation projects continue, and the Law Society has established a channel of information with HMCTS to share with members, to involve members in the development of new systems, to feed back issues our members encounter as the systems are rolled out, and to ensure our members’ and their clients’ needs are considered throughout. The Law Society expects the key focus for HMCTS next year to be personal injury and housing cases.

An overview of the Law Society’s work in this space to date can be found on our website. We also have articles that cover our views on remote hearings, HMCTS’s evaluation of remote hearings during the COVID-19 pandemic and a Law Society report on the impact COVID-19 measures have had on access to justice and vulnerable people.

5. Judicial diversity

The Ministry of Justice recently published a "deep dive" analysis which examined performance of target groups in judicial selection exercises across nearly 5 years. The analysis showed that solicitors and black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates are significantly less successful in the judicial applications process (compared with barristers and/or white candidates, respectively). The Law Society currently provides a range of support for members who apply for judicial appointment and is therefore engaging with the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) in order to understand the reasons for the differential performance of solicitors and BAME candidates in the judicial selection process. A particular focus for the Law Society this year will be the extent to which the JAC’s selection panels (including law and judicial members) that make recommendations for appointment truly understand solicitors' skills and how they demonstrate the judicial competences. The latest update from the JAC can be found on their website.

Get Involved

Our work is led by the experiences of our members and without your feedback and contributions our influence is limited. Should you wish to reach out to us with your views, experiences and feedback on any of the above matters please contact our Membership Engagement and Services Team by emailing Andreas Maier at andreas.maier@lawsociety.org.uk or Beth Quinn at beth.quinn@lawsociety.org.uk.