At the thirteenth Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year awards, held last night at Plaisterer’s Hall in Central London, the Public Law Project (PLP) was awarded the judges’ special ‘Outstanding Achievement’ award.
On Wednesday 10 June the High Court will begin hearing a judicial review with far reaching implications for the ongoing implementation of the Government’s legal aid cuts. PLP has been instructed by the Official Solicitor to the Senior Courts, on behalf of a vulnerable individual, ‘IS’, in a ‘systemic challenge’ to the operation of the Exceptional Case Funding (ECF) scheme, established by the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (LASPOA) 2012.
In a judgment handed down this morning, a Divisional Court has ruled that controversial judicial review regulations that came into force in April 2014 are unlawful.
The Public Law Project (PLP) has today published a research paper on the mandatory Civil Legal Advice telephone advice line (the ‘Gateway’).
We have today been unsuccessful in a challenge brought by Rights of Women to the lawfulness of the evidence criteria for legal aid, specifically legal aid applications for family proceedings involving victims of domestic violence.
Court of Appeal confirms earlier High Court ruling that the Lord Chancellor’s guidance on the scheme is unlawful
In a judgment handed down this morning the Court of Appeal considered six cases in which the High Court had ruled that the Director of Legal Aid Casework had acted unlawfully in refusing applications for “exceptional” legal aid.
PLP acted for ‘IS’ who is blind, has profound cognitive impairment and is unable to care for himself. IS lacks litigation capacity and is represented through the Official Solicitor. IS has lived in the UK for at least thirteen years.
We are seeking an experienced lawyer to head our casework team for a year during a period of maternity leave, manage a major and exciting project concerned with the availability of legal aid, and help formulate the strategic direction of our work during that time.
PLP’s staff and trustees were deeply saddened to learn of the recent and untimely death of Phil Michaels. Phil was a creative and talented lawyer who made a great contribution to the advancement of public law. He was liked and respected by all who knew him, and our thoughts are with his family, his children and his friends.
On Friday 19 September the High Court will consider whether to grant permission for Rights of Women’s legal challenge of the lawfulness of Government changes to legal aid to be heard. These changes are preventing victims of domestic abuse from getting legal aid for family cases, even when it is clear there has been violence, or there is an ongoing risk of violence. Represented by the Public Law Project and supported by the Law Society, Rights of Women argue that this is not what parliament intended.
PLP is recruiting a trainee solicitor through the Justice First Fellowship; a scheme which has been established to help talented law students establish sustainable careers with a focus on access to justice. The Scheme has been established by The Legal Education Foundation, in partnership with other funding organisations in the social welfare law sector.
In a powerful judgment delivered today the Divisional Court has confirmed that Government proposals to introduce a “residence test” for civil legal aid are unlawful. The thrust of those proposals was to prevent those who could not prove 12 months lawful residence in the UK from accessing the legal aid scheme.
The Public Law Project has produced a further briefing regarding measures in Part 4 of the Criminal Justice & Courts Bill relating to Judicial Review.