Public Law Project has outlined serious concerns on behalf of clients about the LAA’s new ’embarrassment clause’. The LAA has introduced the clause in its latest standard crime contract tender and it may be incorporated into civil contracts. Breach can lead to sanctions or contract termination, as is considered ‘proportionate’.
The Public Law Project is pleased to announce that Sara Lomri will be joining us as our Deputy Legal Director. Sara will take up the newly created post in November.
The Supreme Court has today handed down judgment in the Public Law Project’s challenge to the government’s proposed ‘residence test’ for civil legal aid. The proposed ‘residence test’ would have denied access to justice to the many people unable to show that they met its requirements. On 18 April 2016, at the end of the first day of the hearing, a seven-Justice Supreme Court had unanimously allowed the Public Law Project’s challenge to the test, accepting our argument that the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (“LASPO”) did not give the Lord Chancellor the power to introduce regulations that would exclude a group of people from civil legal aid on the basis of ‘residence.’
PLP is pleased to announce that Alison Pickup will be joining us as our Legal Director. Alison will come to PLP from Doughty Street Chambers, where she has established a highly regarded practice acting for the vulnerable and dispossessed.
Yesterday a seven-Justice Supreme Court unanimously allowed the Public Law Project’s challenge to the Government’s proposed residence test for civil legal aid, reversing the judgment of the Court of Appeal.
Press release British courts have today upheld the rule of law. For ten years the Algerian Government has refused any independent international monitoring of its secret prisons, in a climate where many other countries have accepted this as a necessity for a modern democracy. Algeria’s refusal to agree to such monitoring, despite the best efforts
The Supreme Court has expedited the case to be heard on 18 and 19 April 2016.
In a case brought by the Public Law Project on behalf of the charity Rights of Women, the Court of Appeal has ruled that evidence requirements which have been operating to prevent survivors of domestic abuse from getting legal aid for family cases are unlawful.
Yesterday, the Court of Appeal found that the Government’s introduction of the controversial ‘residents test’ for legal aid, was lawful. This overturns a Divisional Court judgement of July 2014, which found the introduction of the test to be discriminatory and unlawful. Both courts were presided over by a panel of three judges and have considered very different aspects of the case, and come to very different conclusions. PLP is looking at options, including seeking an urgent consideration of the case by the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom before the test is implemented, and will update the community in due course.
PLP has exciting new opportunities! We are now seeking an organised Practice Manager to oversee the day-to-day operations, finance, HR, recruitment, risk and compliance in addition to playing a key role in the strategic development of the charity. PLP is also recruiting for its volunteer Board of Trustees. The deadline for both is 1 November.
The Public Law Project has been shortlisted for the Liberty Human Rights Lawyer of the Year Award.
The High Court has today handed down judgment in a test case which will have profound implications for access to justice. In a further judgment in the case of “I.S.” Mr Justice Collins has found that the Legal Aid Agency’s current operation of the Exceptional Case Funding (“ECF”) scheme is unlawful.