Legal aid

The Scottish Government has issued a consultation on legal aid reform in Scotland.

 

Our Legal Aid Committee has considered The Legal Aid and Advice and Assistance (Scotland) (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2019 which were laid before the Scottish Parliament on 1 March 2019 and will come into force on 26 April 2019.

The Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) has issued a consultation on changes to the Criminal Quality Assurance Scheme and the Peer Review Criteria.

View our legal aid heat maps for a geographical representation of all civil and criminal legal aid practitioners in Scotland.

The Scottish Parliament Justice Committee has issued a call for written evidence on the Criminal Legal Assistance (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Scotland) Regulations 2017.

In February the Scottish Government announced that there is to be an independent review of the legal aid system in Scotland. The review is to be chaired by Martyn Evans, CEO of Carnegie Trust. The review group will also include solicitors with strong experience of working in legal aid;

  • Lindsey McPhie, solicitor advocate and immediate past president of the Glasgow Bar Association
  • Jackie McRae, a SSSC registered social worker, solicitor accredited by the Law Society as a specialist in family law and a former member of the Law Society’s Council

The independent legal aid review published a call for evidence on 9 March 2017 and you can read the Law Society's full response here.

The call for evidence poses four main questions:

  • What shared values and ethos should underpin legal aid services, and how best can they be embedded in the delivery of legal services in the future?
  • How best can wider organisational arrangements (including functions, structures and processes) support and enable the delivery of effective legal aid services?
  • How best can legal aid services achieve positive outcomes for and with the people of Scotland?
  • If you were designing a system of legal aid today what would you do differently from the current system to make it more effective and person-centred?

Read our response to the report of the independent strategic review of legal aid here.

The Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) has issued a consultation inviting stakeholders to give their views on a revised Code of Practice in relation to criminal legal assistance.

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