Joseph Barrett KC and Rupert Paines of 11KBW (instructed by Bindmans LLP and Hill Dickinson LLP) acted successfully for a group of criminal legal aid firms who challenged the Lord Chancellor’s policy and decisions in withdrawing the 2024 civil legal aid contracts awarded to a significant number of civil legal aid firms who failed to complete required verification in advance of the deadline for the award of the 2024 Civil Legal Aid Contract: R (Immigration Advice Service) and Ors v The Lord Chancellor: HT-2024-000332, AC-2024-MAN-000359.
The Claimant legal aid firms brought claims under the PCR 2015 and in Judicial Review contending that the Lord Chancellor’s policy and decisions were unlawful because, inter alia: (i) she had misdirected herself in respect of the nature and scope of her discretion, (ii) she had failed properly to direct herself to or consider the s. 1 Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 duty to ensure legal aid provision, and (iii) she had failed lawfully to comply with the public sector equality duty under s. 149 of the Equalities Act 2010.
The effect of the Lord Chancellor’s decision was that a large number of civil legal aid firms would be unable to commence new work for any new or existing clients with effect from 1 September 2024, leading to the creation (or further worsening of) a number of legal aid ‘blackspots’ or ‘deserts’ in England and Wales.
The High Court (Joanna Smith J) ordered an urgent CMC in order for the proceedings to be subject to an expedited timetable to trial. On the afternoon before the CMC, the Defendant filed written submissions confirming that it would fundamentally change the process for the award of new civil legal aid contracts so that each of the claimant legal aid firms, and other c. 100 legal aid firms who had had their contracts revoked due to failure to verify, would be entitled to be ‘passported’ allow them to continue to provide civil legal aid services with effect from January 2025 onwards.
Joseph Barrett KC and Rupert Paines of 11KBW appeared successfully for the Claimant civil legal aid firm, instructed by Nancy Collins, India Cooper and Rebecca Argall of Bindmans LLP and Duncan Hope and Martha Allen of Hill Dickinson LLP.
A copy of the Lord Chancellor’s announcement of her change of policy, published on the day before the first hearing in the proceedings, can be found here.
