Legal aid focus

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The justice budget for the coming year, 2025–26, is set to be about one third higher (£13.5bn) in real terms than in 2019–20 (£10bn), according to a report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

Creative approaches & daring action can lead to surprisingly positive outcomes for clients, writes Rachel Buckley

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has opened its consultation on a £20m boost for housing and immigration legal aid practitioners.

The Ministry of Justice’s latest review of civil justice has failed to inspire Roger Smith, former director of Justice. In his NLJ column this week, he reveals he read all seven reports over the new year and ‘did so with a heavy heart’.

Reading between the lines of the government’s latest review of the civil legal aid system, Roger Smith unearths the same old fundamental problems at its heart

Solicitors are to receive a criminal legal aid rates rise while Crown Court sitting days will increase in number to tackle the still-rising cases backlog

Lawyers have hailed the first increase in civil legal aid in 30 years—an extra £20m for housing and immigration. The last funding rise was in 1996.

Duty solicitors at police stations will receive an extra £18.5m from 6 December, while legal aid lawyers at youth courts will get a £5.1m boost for the most serious cases, the Lord Chancellor Shabana Mahmood has confirmed.

It feels like civil legal aid has been in crisis forever—so is the current system simply irreparable? In this week’s NLJ, Roger Smith, former director of JUSTICE, argues that we need a radical rethink.

Roger Smith on why he believes the model of civil legal aid developed as part of the post-war welfare state is bust

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

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Anthony Collins—William Hallett & Lorna Scully

Anthony Collins hires two talented legal directors

Switalskis—five appointments

Firm expands national abuse compensation team

Mathys & Squire—nine promotions

IP firm announces new partners and senior promotions across UK offices

NEWS

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NLJ this week: AI wake-up call for law firms

A High Court ruling has sent a jolt through the legal profession after a newly qualified solicitor used an internal AI tool to produce court correspondence containing a fabricated legal citation

NLJ this week: Court of Appeal redraws the consent boundary

A significant data privacy ruling has clarified what counts as valid consent under UK data protection law

NLJ this week: Hidden shareholdings could unlock probate windfalls

Executors may be overlooking billions of pounds in estate assets hidden in forgotten investments and misplaced share certificates

NLJ this week: Botox boom leaves legal protections lagging behind

Britain’s booming non-surgical cosmetics market is operating in what some critics describe as a regulatory ‘Wild West’

NLJ this week: Court battles grow over family visits in care settings

Family contact disputes are becoming an increasingly prominent feature of Court of Protection litigation

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Legal aid focus

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Anthony Collins—William Hallett & Lorna Scully

Switalskis—five appointments

Mathys & Squire—nine promotions