The Lord Chancellor, Michael Gove, has offered to suspend the latest cut to criminal legal aid fees if criminal defence solicitors agree not to continue their national boycott of legal aid work at the new rate. A second 8.75% cut to fees was introduced in July, but defence solicitors refused to accept the work, although they backed down in August as a gesture of goodwill. The Criminal Law Solicitors Association and London Criminal Courts’ Solicitors Association are considering Gove’s offer.
25 September 2015
Legal aid latest
MOVERS & SHAKERS
WSP Solicitors—David Ashcroft & Jessica O’Shea
Commercial property and child law teams expand with senior hires
Duxton Hill Chambers—Lucas Bastin KC & Joshua Hiew
Set expands London and Singapore offering with senior international disputes hires
Gilson Gray—Gregor Duthie & Stephen Forsyth
Firm strengthens real estate and litigation teams with partner promotions
NEWS
Behind the profession’s polished exterior, lawyers are ‘internally drained rather than physically tired’, according to a stark assessment of burnout in legal practice
Five years after the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 came into force, concerns remain that the family courts continue to minimise allegations of abuse in child contact disputes
Uber has built a formidable strategy for insulating itself from liability for drivers’ conduct, but the legal terrain differs sharply between the US and England and Wales
The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Act 2026 marks a constitutional watershed by severing the centuries-old link between hereditary titles and automatic membership of the upper chamber
The Civil Justice Council’s review of Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974 could mark the end of what one commentator calls an ‘outdated’ and overly technical regime governing solicitor-client fee disputes
Copyright © 2026 LexisNexis
