“Families of nine UK personnel killed in a plane shot down in Iraq will get no legal aid at an inquest but those of an Australian airman will, it has emerged.”
BBC News, 9th December 2007
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“Andrew Holroyd hails a landmark ruling for legal aid lawyers and the launch of the law society’s international division.”
Law Society’s Gazette, 6th December 2007
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
“New civil legal aid fees may have to be scrapped in light of the appeal court’s ruling last week that the Legal Services Commission’s (LSC) unified contract is unlawful.”
Law Society’s Gazette, 6th December 2007
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
“Two children of a multimillionaire jeweller have been given legal aid of £30,750 to protect their interests under a family trust amid a divorce war between their parents.”
The Guardian, 3rd December 2007
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
R (Main) v Minister for Legal Aid [2007] EWCA Civ 1147
“In refusing an application for discretionary funding for full legal representation at an inquest into deaths following a rail accident, the Minister for Legal Aid had not acted irrationally in concluding that no significant wider public interest would be compromised, nor did the refusal constitute a breach of art 2 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.”
WLR Daily, 21st November 2007
Source: www.lawreports.co.uk
Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.
“Bereaved families cannot generally claim legal aid for inquests or it will ‘risk imposing an unjustified burden’ on the system, the Court of Appeal ruled yesterday.”
The Times, 20th November 2007
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
“Families of British service personnel killed in Iraq and Afghanistan are being obstructed by the MoD in their efforts to discover how their children died, it was claimed yesterday.”
The Independent on Sunday, 14th October 2007
Source: www.independent.co.uk
“This month marks the beginning of a new era in civil legal aid. but many who work in the field believe the arrival of fixed fees is a disaster for the profession. Jon Robins reports.”
Law Society’s Gazette, 11th October 2007
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
“The future of legal aid remains under threat unless the government changes its stubborn approach to reforms and, as Alan Beith tells Rupert White, carefully rethinks its policies.”
Law Society’s Gazette, 27th September 2007
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
“Proposed reforms to criminal defence legal aid contracts risk ‘pushing the defence service towards disaster’ and should be resisted ‘to the end’, Roger Peach, the president of the Criminal Defence Solicitors’ Union has warned.”
Law Society’s Gazette, 27th September 2007
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
“The Legal Services Commission (LSC) is to appeal against the Law Society’s High Court victory on legal aid, the body announced last night (5 September).”
Legal Week, 6th September 2007
Source: www.legalweek.com
Solicitor’s legal aid duty
David Truex (a Firm) v Kitchin
Court of Appeal
“A solicitor should not take instructions and incur costs gathering information relating to contemplated proceedings and only when that information suggested that the client was eligible for public funding advise that a different firm could become involved.”
The Times, 29th August 2007
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Please note the Times Law Reports are only available free on Times Online for 21 days from the date of publication.
‘Net rent payable’ is not the same as rent paid
Regina (Southwark Law Centre) v Legal Services Commission; Regina (Dennis) v Same
Queen’s Bench Division
“Where a calculation of disposable income was being carried out for the purposes of assessing a person’s entitlement to publicly funded legal representation, the net rent payable by that person had to be taken into account rather than the net rent actually paid.”
The Times, 20th August 2007
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Please note the Times Law Reports are only available free on Times Online for 21 days from the date of publication.
“The Law Society has dealt a major blow to the Government’s controversial plans to reform the £2bn legal aid system after a High Court judge upheld the bulk of the body’s objections to the proposals.”
Legal Week, 27th July 2007
Source: www.legalweek.com
“A group of the UK’s most influential barristers has severely criticised the Labour Government’s treatment of the UK legal system over the past ten years.”
The Times, 27th July 2007
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
“The Black Solicitors Network (BSN) and the Society of Asian Lawyers (SAL) have withdrawn their joint judicial review action over the government’s legal aid reforms.”
Law Society’s Gazette, 26th July 2007
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
“The much-anticipated judicial review brought by black and Asian lawyers against the Government’s Carter reforms ended abruptly yesterday (19 July) after the application was withdrawn.”
The Lawyer, 20th July 2007
Source: www.thelawyer.com
“Jack Straw will face his first court challenge as Lord Chancellor next week when the Law Society, the Commission for Racial Equality and ethnic minority lawyers go to the High Court to try to halt the government’s controversial shake-up of legal aid.”
The Guardian, 9th July 2007
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
© Inner Temple Library 2025