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23 May 2025 / Graeme Hydari
Issue: 8117 / Categories: Features , Legal aid focus , Profession
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Book review: Legal Aid Handbook 2024/25

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"No required information on legal aid is left uncovered in this handbook"
  • Authors: Vicky Ling, Sue James and Simon Mullings
  • Publisher: Legal Action Group
  • ISBN: 9781913648688
  • RRP: £85

As a legal aid practitioner who has worked in criminal legal aid for over 40 years, several thoughts came to mind while reviewing the excellent and thorough Legal Aid Handbook.

One item of note is the change from paper to digital over the years, regarding applications, costs, management, and just how complicated the administration of the legal aid system has become. This results in this handbook necessitating 698 pages of vital information, plus an index. It resembles the unwieldly tax manuals, but in this case, it sets out the information in a neat, logical and accessible form.

I am also reminded of the importance of legal aid funding to those seeking legal help and justice, but balanced against the need to prevent the misuse of the public money made available for such help.

Essential knowledge

Unfortunately,

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Harneys—Maggie Kwok & George Weston

Harneys—Maggie Kwok & George Weston

Harneys senior leadership appointments

Freeths—Keith Browne & Jim Jordan

Freeths—Keith Browne & Jim Jordan

Freeths strengthens London Construction and Engineering practice with two strategic senior hires

Anthony Collins—Laura Moss

Anthony Collins—Laura Moss

Anthony Collins announces strategic hire to deepen skills base in the social business sector

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Part-time status need only be an effective cause of less favourable treatment, rather than the sole cause, the Supreme Court has held in Augustine v Data Cars
Britain’s new acknowledgement that Israel’s occupation is unlawful, and accompanying settlement-goods ban and sanctions, is significant but overdue, argue Danny Friedman KC and Victor Kattan in NLJ this week
New planning fee rises, wider trade union access rights and a service-by-email trap feature in Stephen Gold’s latest Civil Way
Existing defamation law can respond to AI ‘hallucinations’, but allocating responsibility will prove harder where outputs reach users without human intervention
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