Hampshire Law Society - Legal Aid
Dear Colleagues,
Access to Justice / Legal Aid Seminar
Monday 10th May 2010 at Jury's Inn, Southampton
Free Seminar CPD 1.5 hours
Andrew Caplen, Chair of the Access to Justice Committee and our local Council Member for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, has led Law Society discussions on access to justice and defending legal aid. These discussions have led to a board based review of the current legal aid system. We are keen for the whole profession to consider the law society's proposals and engage with the debate. We hope that legal practitioners will be very interested in the interim report and also the profession as a whole will be keen to engage from the perspective of constitutional rights and the rule of law.
Please contact Administrator, Nicola Jennings for booking form.
administrationAThampshirelawsociety.co.uk
From the Chief Executive
09 March 2010
Letter to Local Law Societies
Dear President/Secretary
We have today been advised by the LSC that, once again, there will be disruption to payments to firms, in order to help the LSC manage its cashflow and defer some payments into the new financial year. We have written urgently to Jack Straw to protest about this move. We have also invoked our process for providing information to banks to notify them of the possible adverse effects for legal aid firms.Yours sincerely
Desmond Hudson
Chief Executive
Legal Aid
The Law Society is meeting with counsel today to explore the possibility of a last minute application to stay the introduction of the unified legal aid contract. Please look at the Law Society website for up to date information on this matter.
HILS cannot recommend you to sign or refuse to sign the contract, but there are considerable problems with the contract, and the Law Society website has some very helpful information.
At the Law Society Council meeting on 29th March, one council member advised that he had agreed a postponement of the deadline to sign the contract. This course of action is worth following.
Council unanimously voted in favour of the following motion:-
‘In its determination to press ahead immediately to change legal aid, the Legal Services Commission has failed to negotiate adequately with the Law Society or to consider or respond to its legal advice and further has dismissed the warnings of the Otterburn Report and others as to the dire consequences of its plan for the public and access to justice.
The Law Society has no confidence in Legal Services Commission’s ability to provide a sustainable future for legal aid.’
30th March, 2007