‘Hundreds of solicitors’ firms will close if the Ministry of Justice does not postpone fee cuts and delay changes to criminal legal aid contracts, the new president of the Law Society has warned.’
The Guardian, 21st July 2014
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘The policy of the Foreign Secretary to refuse to provide funding for legal representation to United Kingdom nationals who were facing the death penalty abroad was lawful.’
WLR Daily, 16th july 2014
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
‘In a judgment released yesterday a Divisional Court unanimously struck down the government’s attempt to introduce a residence test for eligibility for legal aid, finding it incompatible with the objective of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (“LASPO”). The ratio of the judgment was that the residence test had been introduced via an amendment to the schedule in the Act (that is, via subsidiary legislation) that was not compatible with the objective of the primary legislation. While that sounds like a rather technical decision, it has important ramifications for democratic accountability. It means, in essence, that if the government wants to make such a drastic change as this, it will need to do so via an amendment to the Act itself, with the full Parliamentary debate that that would entail. The case is also interesting because of the two rights-based grounds that were argued before it. The first, that the introduction of a residence requirement violated the fundamental right of access to a court, the court declined to engage with. The second was that residence was not a lawful ground for discriminating in the provision of legal aid between equally meritorious claims. The court accepted this claim, but apparently in obiter dicta, since only the statutory construction point was strictly required to reach the outcome.’
UK Constitutional Law Association, 17th July 2014
Source: www.ukconstitutionallaw.org/blog
‘In years to come, we may all wonder what all the fuss was about, but Tuesday’s judgement in R (Public Law Project) v the Secretary of State for Justice has provided some relief and not a little amusement to legal aid practitioners girding themselves for yet another grim landmark in the legal aid story: the residence test.’
NearlyLegal, 17th July 2014
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk/blog/
‘The Administrative Court has declared that the proposed residence test for civil legal aid is discriminatory and unlawful, following a successful judicial review challenge against the Secretary of State for Justice. The case was brought by the Public Law Project, a national legal charity that promotes access to justice, on the basis that the residence test would, if implemented, violate fundamental constitutional rights guaranteed by the common law and the European Convention on Human Rights, as incorporated into UK law by the Human Rights Act 1998.’
LegalVoice, 16th July 2014
Source: www.legalvoice.org.uk
‘The cuts in legal aid for professional advice wrought by Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO) may be seen to have increased the opportunities – and workload – for volunteers and charities. Indeed, there are reports that the government intends to fill the gap regarding divorce by setting up law centres run by students. However, the cuts, often portrayed as affecting “fat cat” lawyers, can harm charitable and volunteer services as can be seen through the example of Citizens Advice Bureaux up and down the country.’
Halsbury’s Law Exhchange, 15th July 2014
Source: www.halsburyslawexchange.co.uk
‘The proposed statutory instrument, the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (Amendment of Schedule 1) Order 2014, amending Schedule 1 to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 by introducing a residence test, was unlawful as it was ultra vires and discriminatory.’
WLR Daily, 15th July 2014
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
‘More than 19,000 more parents appeared in civil courts with no lawyer in cases about children, in the year after legal aid cuts, it has emerged.’
BBC News, 16th July 2014
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘The UK Supreme Court has called on the British government to review the case of a grandmother facing execution in Indonesia on drug charges.’
BBC News, 16th July 2014
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘Public Law Project v Secretary of State for Justice [2014] EWHC 2365. Angela Patrick of JUSTICE has provided an excellent summary of this important ruling, which declared a proposed statutory instrument to be ultra vires the LASPO Act under which it was to have been made. The judgment is an interesting one, not least for some judicial fireworks in response to the Lord Chancellor’s recourse to the Daily Telegraph after the hearing, but before judgment was delivered.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 15th July 2014
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
‘House of Lords is scheduled to vote on the Government’s proposals for a residence test for access to legal aid, Angela Patrick, Director of Human Rights Policy at JUSTICE considers today’s judgment of the Divisional Court in PLP v Secretary of State for Justice.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 15th July 2014
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
‘The government’s attempt to introduce a residence test for legal aid has been struck down by the high court on the grounds that it is discriminatory and unlawful.’
The Guardian, 15th July 2014
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘The government’s plan to introduce a stricter test on judicial review outcomes “risks undermining the rule of law”, the House of Lords constitution committee has warned.’
Litigation Futures, 7th July 2014
Source: www.litigationfutures.com
‘The fight by two charities against cuts to prison law legal aid will continue after the Court of Appeal granted permission to appeal the High Court’s rejection of the challenge.’
Law Society’s Gazette, 2nd July 2014
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘The High Court recently gave judgement in Gudanaviciene & Ors v Director of Legal Aid Casework & Anor [2014] EWHC 1840 (Admin).’
Legal Aid Handbook, 1st July 2014
Source: www.legalaidhandbook.com
‘Depriving children of legal representation by introducing a residence test is in breach of their international rights, a parliamentary committee has warned.’
The Guardian, 30th June 2014
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
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