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31 January 2019 / Patrick Allen
Issue: 7826 / Categories: Features , Legal aid focus
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Book review: Legal Aid Handbook 2018/19

  • Editors: Vicky Ling, Simon Pugh & Sue James
  • Publisher: Legal Action Group
  • ISBN: 978-1912273003 
  • Pages: 560
  • RRP: £60

The Legal Aid Handbook is an essential item in the toolkit of any practitioner handling legal aid work. The latest edition is edited by Vicky Ling, Simon Pugh and Sue James, all of whom have extensive legal aid experience (Vicky Ling actually worked for the Legal Aid Board for some years in the 1990s). The handbook covers pretty much everything you would need to know about civil and criminal legal aid, cost claims and the policy framework in one volume.

Given the extensive cutbacks in legal aid scope and funding over the last few years you might think this would be a thin volume, but, of course, this is not the case. The legal aid which remains after the cuts still is bound by complex rules and statutory instruments and practitioners need to find their way through the minefield to conduct any

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Switalskis—Naila Arif, Harriet Findlay & Ellie Thompson

Switalskis—Naila Arif, Harriet Findlay & Ellie Thompson

Firm awards training contracts to paralegals through internal programme

Ward Hadaway—Matthew Morton

Ward Hadaway—Matthew Morton

Private client disputes specialist joins commercial litigation team

Thomson Hayton Winkley—Nina Hood

Thomson Hayton Winkley—Nina Hood

Cumbria firm appoints new head of residential property

NEWS
Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners 
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’ 
Family law must shift from conflict-driven litigation to child-centred problem-solving, according to a major new report. Writing in NLJ this week, Caroline Bowden of Anthony Gold outlines findings showing overwhelming support for reform, with 92% agreeing lawyers owe duties to children as well as clients
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