- BY CJ McKinney
Duncan Lewis seeks feedback from legal aid firms affected by backdating rules
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Duncan Lewis Solicitors wants help from legal aid firms in its challenge to Legal Aid Agency rules that prevent solicitors from claiming for emergency work carried out before legal aid is formally granted.
The Legal Aid Agency’s position is that the Civil Legal Aid (Procedure) Regulations 2012 rule out legal aid payments for work reasonably undertaken before it approves funding. The firm has been granted permission in a judicial review, arguing that the Legal Aid Agency has “misunderstood its powers” and is allowed to pay out for legal aid work done prior to the date on which it has made a formal determination.
Duncan Lewis cites one of its recent cases, involving
an elderly, suicidal woman who instructed Duncan Lewis on a Sunday to obtain an injunction against her removal the next morning. We took the case on, in the knowledge that the LAA would not cover this urgent work.
This, it says, cannot continue.
The firm now wants to hear from other firms or chambers similarly affected who may wish to be joined to the proceedings, to file evidence or to intervene in the case. Contact Jeremy Bloom on 020 3114 1260 or jeremyb@duncanlewis.com.
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