Recently in Legal Aid Category

A leading QC has highlighted a major discrepancy in the rules on legal aid, after claiming that whilst millions of society's most vulnerable are seeing cuts to legal aid cases, the banks receive hundreds of millions of pounds from the budget to help them fight fraud cases, reports The Independent.

The legal aid cuts are biting deep, amid news that family courts are struggling under the weight of warring parents who are now choosing to represent themselves after legal aid was removed from divorce cases in April.

The next swathe of cuts to the legal aid budget look set to bring competition to the fees charged by criminal lawyers, prompting many to claim that access to justice will be denied to those in receipt of legal aid, who will now receive the cheapest rather than the best representation.

Family lawyers have warned that the court system is in danger of collapse after revealing that changes to legal aid that took effect in April this year have resulted in more people representing themselves, clogging up an already overworked system, reports The Daily Telegraph.

New figures released this week have shown that the number of children caught up in custody battles between divorcing parents has rocketed up 27% in the past month and is almost double the number seen two years ago.

The agency responsible for securing the best interests of children involved in family law disputes is Cafcass. It has disclosed that it received more than 5,000 new cases in May, a record number since it was set up in 2001.

Lawyers believe that the Government's proposed changes to the rules on legal aid will make practicing law as a barrister the privilege of the social elite, pricing out those from modest backgrounds who would be unable to make a living from the profession, reports The London Evening Standard.

The warning came from the head of the Young Barristers' Committee, Hannah Kinch, who told The London Evening Standard that the Government's proposals to change legal aid would result in a dramatic cut in fees for criminal barristers.

The result of the cuts would mean that barristers would find it hard to make a living from their bread-and-butter work, pricing many from modest backgrounds out of a career at the bar.

A survey for the Bar Council conducted by pollsters ComRes has found that two-thirds of the public are opposed to the Government's planned next-phase of legal-aid reform, reports The Independent.

The Government completed the first tranche of its legal-aid reforms this April, with a raft of controversial changes coming into force that have seen free legal representation removed from a wide range of cases including most divorce work, housing matters, welfare disputes and employment law.

Now the Government is looking to trim additional money from the now £1.7bn-per-annum budget, with further controversial cuts to criminal legal aid and a plan to have solicitors' firms bid against each other for criminal legal-aid contracts.

Barristers in Wales agreed to strike over government plans to reform criminal legal aid by asking lawyers to sign up to a new quality regulator and to put criminal legal-aid representation out to tender, reports the BBC.

The government plans were announced earlier this month, as part of the second wave of changes to the legal-aid system in England and Wales that currently costs the UK taxpayer around £2bn each year.

The first tranche of cuts saw legal aid removed from almost all divorce cases, as well as from employment law matters, personal injury claims, most medical negligence cases and some cases involving immigration, debt, housing and benefit problems.

The Justice Secretary Chris Grayling has announced that migrants will have to wait one year before qualifying for legal aid for qualifying civil claims, reports The Daily Telegraph.

The move comes in a week when the justice secretary is expected to announce the next tranche of cuts to legal aid that are designed to trim a further £300m from the annual legal-aid budget.

This month the last round of controversial cuts came into force, which should reduce the legal-aid budget from over £2bn per year, to around £1.7bn. The latest cuts announced by the justice secretary this weekend should see that figure drop even further, to around £1.4bn.

The Justice Secretary Chris Grayling has announced that legal-aid funding could be axed for prisoners seeking to bring legal complaints against the prison system, in a bid to save a further £4m from the legal-aid budget, reports the BBC.

In a week which controversial and drastic legal-aid changes have come into force, the Justice Secretary Chris Grayling has courted further controversy by suggesting that legal aid could be withdrawn in prisoner complaint cases.

Grayling described such cases as 'unnecessary' and said that proper representation for complaint cases could be provided within the prison service.

The Government's proposed legal-aid cuts were dealt a string of blows in the House of Lords, as peers voted through a number of motions of regret concerning exemptions to the cuts, reports the BBC.

The Government suffered multiple defeats yesterday, as peers backed motions to preserve legal aid in various scenarios.

The Labour peer Lord Bach proposed a motion backing funding for appeal on a point of law to a decision by a tribunal by 166 to 161. They also backed a motion to allow legal aid to the disabled and another on legal aid for domestic violence victims.

Lawyers have reacted angrily to the latest proposals for reform of the legal-aid system, that could see criminal work being put out to tender to the lowest bidders, reports the BBC.

Legal-aid reform is never far from the news agenda these days and there it seems likely to stay after Justice Secretary Chris Grayling announced that he will begin a consultation next month on proposals to put criminal legal-aid work out to tender to the lowest bidder.

At present the Government legal-aid budget stands at around £2bn annually. Proposals coming into force at the beginning of April will see around £350m taken off that bill, as legal aid is denied to those in employment, clinical negligence and most divorce cases.

Law students from Keele University are contributing their time and expertise to help bridge the gap left by the Government's impending cuts to legal aid services that come into force next month, reports the BBC.

The Government's controversial cuts to the legal-aid budget will mean an end to free legal advice and representation for thousands of Britons beginning on 1 April 2013.

The cuts have been widely criticised for denying access to justice for many of the poorest in society, who will have no choice but to represent themselves or seek assistance from charities.

Lord Neuberger, the UK's most senior judge, has warned the Government that its plans to cut access to free legal advice and representation will undermine the rule of law and have serious consequences for the country, reports Reuters.

The Government initiated its cost-saving proposals under the former Home Secretary Ken Clarke, who sought to trim around £350m from the Government's annual £2bn legal aid budget.

The cuts proposed include axing free legal representation in the vast majority of divorce cases, as well as employment law, welfare work and in some debt and housing cases.

Birmingham City Council have reaffirmed that it will not offer the Birmingham Law Centre financial assistance, despite the threat of closure and a rally by local activists.

Leader Sir Albert Bore addressed a full meeting of the city council to say that no additional funds would be made available.

The Birmingham Law Centre is an independent, not-for-profit legal advice agency, operating under contract from the Legal Service Commission to provide legal aid.

The legal aid bill for the failed deportation of cleric Abu Qatada currently stands at well over £500,000 according to official figures released by Justice Minister Jeremy Wright.

It was expected that Mr Qatada would be deported to Jordan last month, but the move was blocked at the last minute by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC), who ruled that there was a risk that evidence obtained using torture would be used against him at trial.

The Home Secretary Theresa May subsequently launched an application to appeal the decision on a point of law to the Court of Appeal, which was granted on 5 December.

The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders bill has suffered a fresh round of defeats in the House of Lords, after peers voted down a further three of its controversial proposals.

The defeats mean that the bill now faces a further round of voting before the parliamentary session ends early next week, and sets up a potential constitutional battle, as the unelected Lords in the Upper Chamber continue to defy the will of the majority in the elected House of Commons.

The bill is one of the Government's major austerity measures, designed to trim some £350m from the legal aid bill. It has proved controversial because under the proposals legal aid representation will be denied to many of the most vulnerable members of society, prompting some to say that it denies access to justice and should be scrapped.

Kate and Gerry McCann are among a number of high-profile signatories to an open letter to the Prime Minister, urging him to rethink government proposals to amend the law on 'no-win, no-fee' legal representation.

The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders bill is due its third and final reading in the House of Lords this week. Despite a number of previous defeats in the Lords at the committee stage, the bill is now widely tipped to become law.

The letter was coordinated by organisations 'Hacked Off' and the 'Liberal Rights Campaign' and has been signed by a number of members of the public who have had to issue libel proceedings against newspapers in recent years.