LAPG Annual Review | 2016

Annual Review 2016Legal Aid Practitioners Group

www.lapg.co.uk

Contents

Welcome from LAPG Co-Chairs 1

LAPG Objectives (a) Influencing 3

(b) Support 4

(c) Community 5

Finances and Membership 6

Director’s Report 7

Supporting LAPG 8

Acknowledgements 9

12016 | LAPG Annual Review |

Welcome

Welcome from LAPG Co-Chairs

LAPG is a membership organisation forfirms and Not-for-Profit organisationsthat carry out legal aid work. We haverecently welcomed a number of barristersand members of the legal aid section ofthe Association of Costs Lawyers.

Legal aid has always been a resourcethat is rationed. However when thecoalition government brought in theLegal Aid, Sentencing and Punishmentof Offenders Act in 2013 there was anenormous reduction in the availabilityof legal aid because a large number ofcases fell outside scope.

On top of this a new means test wasintroduced resulting in some of thepoorest in society being denied legalaid. These changes have had adevastating impact on access to justicein England and Wales for a hugenumber of people, many of whom werealready living on the fringes of societyand unable to access an ever shrinkingpool of help and support as otherGovernment cuts have been madeunder the banner of austerity.

The result has been a significant inadvice, help and support with a 50%reduction in successful applications forlegal aid to represent people in court, arise in domestic abuse, an increase inhomelessness and the further

fragmentation of family life and erosionof the rights of the individual.

The legal aid which remains wassupposed to be targeted at those mostin need and administered fairly. It isneither targeted nor fairly administered.The safety net the public was promised(the Exceptional Case Funding Scheme)has proved to be inadequate, publicinformation about the scheme has beenabsent or misleading and coincidentalregulatory changes have meant extrahurdles for people in need of justice toovercome even where they are entitledto legal aid.

The practical mechanism for making anapplication has been fraught with itsown complications as the LAA hasrolled out a digital application portal(CCMS), at best in need of significantdevelopment and at worst unfit forpurpose, costing the taxpayer and thoseworking in delivering legal aid vastsums.

We have seen more and more skilledlawyers unable to continue to deliverlegal aid services because of thesehurdles. Advice centres and LawCentres have closed and yet thedemand for a properly resourced andadministered legal aid and justicesystem has never been so great.

On a political and a practical level we atthe coal face are facing challenges fromall angles and yet our clients’ problemshaven’t gone away. Our clients are morein need of justice and protection fromharm than ever before.

At LAPG we work for change. We influence the policy makers bylobbying for improvements to the rulesand regulations, by fighting for changeto remedy some of the most devastatingimpacts of the cuts and by tirelesslyinforming and advising decisionmakers on the likely consequences ofproposed actions.

Welcome to Legal Aid Practitioners Group’s first ever Annual Review!

Jenny Beck of Beck Fitzgerald

Reduction in Legal Help cases and Legal Aid Certificates following LASPO. Reference: MOJ Legal Aid Statistics Quarterly: January to March 2016 – see MOJ website

Nicola Mackintosh of Mackintosh Law, QC (Hon)

We provide operation support to allthose on the front line by campaigningfor improvements to the administrationof the scheme and by helping providersto resolve their contracting andmanagement issues. We foster acommunity of legal aid lawyers bycelebrating, training and supportingcurrent practitioners and those whoaspire to work in access to justice.LAPG works hard to effect change forour clients in need, so that we have afairer justice system for all.

Our report contains examples of thework we have done this year and ourobjectives for next year.

Finally, we can’t do any of this withoutyour help and support. We are proud ofour membership and the work of alllegal aid lawyers. We have established aFriends of LAPG network and wereceive countless hours of help andsupport from members, partners,stakeholders and representative bodies– all of whom are seeking to ensure ourclients have access to justice.

2 | LAPG Annual Review | 2016

Welcome

Reduction in legal aid providers following the introduction of LASPO. Reference: MOJ Legal Aid Statistics Quarterly: January to March 2016 – see MOJ website

Exceptional Case Funding Scheme

2013-14

2014-15

2015-16

1,516

1,172

1,344

Applications

70

226

641

Granted


Influencing

Influencing

Politics - engaging withpoliticians to promote accessto justice

A key role for LAPG is to engage withpoliticians to promote access to justiceon behalf of our members. LAPG,together with Young Legal Aid Lawyers,provides secretarial support to the AllParty Parliamentary Group (APPG) onLegal Aid. The APPG aims to promoteparliamentary and publicunderstanding of the importance of therole of publicly funded legal services.APPG meetings are held in Parliamentand are attended by parliamentariansand by interested parties, often peoplewith a professional interest in legal aidand justice. Meetings have covered bothcivil and criminal legal aid topics. Weare grateful to the Legal EducationFoundation for supporting this work.

● For more information on the APPGsee www.apg-legalaid.org

LAPG provides briefings forParliamentary debates and encouragesmembers to provide examples topoliticians. We also encourage membersto engage directly with their local MPto explain the importance of legal aid totheir constituents.

Several members of the Committee(Julie Bishop, Laura Janes, NicolaMackintosh, QC (Hon)) and ourDirector Carol Storer are allcommissioners on the Bach Review.

Press Coverage

Committee members and our Directorwrite for Legal Action magazine, LegalVoice and other legal magazines. Wepress release a number of our eventse.g. the LALYs and the manifestolaunch.

LAPG Manifesto

The Manifesto for Legal Aid waslaunched in the House of Commons on18 March 2015 to an audience of MPs,peers, legal aid practitioners and otherstakeholders. The Manifesto highlightsthose areas where changes to legal aid –particularly those brought in under theLegal Aid, Sentencing and Punishmentof Offenders Act 2012 (LASPOA) –have had a seriously adverse impact onthose who most need legal advice andrepresentation, such as children,disabled people and victims of domesticviolence.

The Manifesto proposes a series ofchanges to legal aid provision anddelivery which would alleviate theworst effects on the most vulnerablegroups - changes which could beimplemented swiftly by theGovernment and at little significant cost to thepublic purse.

We aim to represent the interests of legal aidpractitioners and clients to Government, the LAA andthe wider community; we also aim to champion accessto justice through Legal Aid and, in particular, to:● ensure that no further legal aid cuts are made;● fight to return legal aid scope and eligibility to its

pre LASPO levels;● engage with good IT solutions that genuinely assist

with access to justice rather than simply cover up acut in the provision;

● make practical suggestions for improving the legalaid scheme within the current budget.

Sir Keir Starmer QC MP, Chair of APPG on Legal Aid

Updates

LAPG members receive regular updateson what is happening within the legalaid system. In surveys of our members,the information in these updates is seenas essential reading to maintain aworking understanding of the legal aidscheme. We send updates out as andwhen they are needed – this usuallyworks out at once a week.

Meetings

Our Director, our Operations Directorand Committee members attendmeetings regularly to discussoperational issues – from CCMS tohigh profile cases, from domesticviolence evidence requirements to thenumber of LAA audits practices aresubjected to.

Member queries

We’re regularly contacted by membersasking for help with a problem affectingtheir practice. These range from how tochallenge an audit outcome or billreduction, to HR and managementissues. We have staff and Committeemembers with vast knowledge andexperience of the legal aid scheme andpractice management, so we can oftenprovide members with the answer theyneed or, at the very least, a point in theright direction.

Member queries help us to understandthe practical issues impacting on ourmembers. We raise these issues,anonymously where requested, with theLAA or MOJ and provide feedback tomembers. If the response is of widerpublic interest we publicise it in anupdate.

Training courses

Through ongoing training, practicalsupport and up-to-the-minuteinformation, we continually support thedelivery of high quality legal services bylegal aid lawyers. Our trainingprogramme includes unique coursestailored to the needs of legal aidpractitioners. We provide training onthe specifics of the legal aid scheme, butalso on the management and practicalissues that help legal aid providers to besustainable and successful.

Pop up briefings: a two hour seminarabout the post-LASPO world, which wehave delivered in 2016 in London,Manchester and Liverpool.

The LAPG Certificate in PracticeManagement: In 2014 LAPG entered acompetition for funding run by the UKCommission for Employment and Skills– we were successful and were awardedfunding to design and pilot a 60 hourcourse for managers and futuremanagers. The course is a mixture offace-to-face and online working. Weran that pilot with 24 great delegates.


Operational Support

Operational Support

We learnt a lot and thankfully thedelegates told us that they did too. Thecourse has been run again this year andwith great involvement. Our thirdcourse starts in November 2016.

● More information is on our websitewww.lapg.co.uk/courses

Training and support for NfPs: LAPGwas commissioned by the LegalEducation Foundation, on behalf of theFuture Advice Fund group of funders,to collate and share the resourcesdeveloped by Future Advice fundedprojects. We are running workshops forNfP advice providers, developing anonline portal for accessing resourcesand facilitating intensive consultancysupport to help organisations embednew ideas and improve their systems.

CCMS

For four years our Director has beenattending meetings about CCMS,together with the Law Society andResolution. The LAA brought in CCMSso that all civil legal aid applicationsand billing could be submitted online.It has proved enormously problematicfor practitioners, clients and LAA staff.It is now a mandatory system despiterepresentative bodies asking for it toremain optional. LAPG continues toput a lot of resource into working witheveryone to try to improve CCMS.

We aim to enable legal aid practitioners to providequality services to their clients by providing supportand services to members


Community

Community

Updates to members

Along with operational and policyissues, our updates include relevantnews and events for our members.

Annual Conferences and Dinners

The Annual Conference, held inconjunction with the AGM and AnnualDinner, is always a great opportunity tocatch up on what is going on, to surveythe sector and focus on ways forward.Practitioners get the chance to questionpoliticians and senior officials from theMOJ and LAA. It is also an opportunityto talk with other practitioners andreflect on what others are doing with amixture of plenaries and workshops.The Conference confers 5 hours CPD(or its equivalent).

Our conferences are packed withplenary and workshop sessionsdesigned to assist legal aid practitionersat all levels, from newly qualified topartners/senior managers, in theirplanning for the future andmanagement of their contracts.

Practitioners share hints and tips andgenerally network. Lawyers can gettheir fix of black letter law as well.People who can’t make it are able tofollow on Twitter – we’ve even startedtrending!

The LAPG Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year (LALYS) now in its 14th year

The LALYs celebrate the work ofgrassroots lawyers and have grownfrom a marquee and fifty people tovenues holding over 400 people. Theyare held annually, with this year’sawards held in London with Sky News’Anna Jones as the compere andrecipients received by Baroness DoreenLawrence. In previous years thepresenters were Cherie Booth QC,Michael Mansfield QC and Lord JusticeAndrew McFarlane QC.

The 2016 winners were:

1. Legal Aid Newcomer - Darragh Mackin, KRW Law

2. Social & Welfare Lawyer - Lou Crisfield, Miles & Partners

3. Family Legal Aid Lawyer - Baljit Bains, Wilsons Solicitors

4. Family Mediator - Tracy Winstanley, Heaney Watson

5. Legal Aid Barrister - ElizabethCallaghan, Dere Street Barristers

6. Mental Health Lawyer - Philippa Curran, Odonnells Solicitors

7. Children’s Rights - Clare Jennings,Matthew Gold & Company

8. Public Law Lawyer - Simon Creighton, Bhatt Murphy

9. Criminal Defence Lawyer - SimonNatas, Irvine Thanvi Natas Solicitors

10.Legal Aid Firm/Not-for-profit Agency- Anti Trafficking & LabourExploitation Unit

11.Access to Justice through IT -Crowdjustice

12.Outstanding Achievement -Hillsborough Lawyers

Working with the nextgeneration of legal aidlawyers

We work closely with Young Legal AidLawyers (YLAL) on operational issuesbut also because we share theirconcerns about access to the professionand social mobility. Each year YLALspeak at our conference to encouragestudents into the legal aid sector. Wework with universities and colleges toprovide subsidised conference placesfor their students. We also attend lawfairs and university open days to helpstudents get a better understanding ofthe legal aid world.

We aim to build a community of legal aid adviceproviders and to support that community throughtraining, conferences and events.

LALYS Awards 2016

Annual conference 2015

Many thanks to the UK Commissionfor Employment and Skills forsupporting the Certificate in PracticeManagement.

Many thanks also to the LegalEducation Foundation for supportingthe All Party Parliamentary Group onLegal Aid and for their ongoing supportof our training activities.

Thank you to LAPG members

LAPG’s members are the backbone ofthe organisation. Our membershipcovers all areas of legal aid and isspread across England and Wales.

Members represent large firms, small tomedium firms, niche practices and notfor profits such as law centres and otherindependent advice agencies.

Members provide support and evidencefor campaigning initiatives, help tolobby politicians and policy makers andprovide us with the information weneed to campaign on their behalf.


Finances and Membership

Finances and Membership

LAPG welcomes the newOperations Director

This year the LAPG Committee decided tocreate a new post to build on our traininginitiatives and provide the Director withsupport on operational issues. In March2016 the Operations Director, ChrisMinnoch, joined LAPG. Chris hasexperience of managing a not for profitlegal aid provider, fundraising, developingnetworks of advice organisations andworking with local government to delivertargeted advice services.

Chris Minnoch

A statement of financial activities

32,76236,127

68,889

30,143

386

76,563

76,949

76,949

577

38,74639,323

39,323

35,441

61,699

97,140

20,577

FIXED ASSETS

Tangible assets

CURRENT ASSETS

Debtors

Cash at bank and in hand

CREDITORS: amounts falling due within 1 year

NET CURRENT ASSETS

TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT LIABILITIES

CAPITAL AND RESERVES

Profit and loss account

2015££

2014

Membership income

Conference tickets and sponsorship

LALY sponsorship

Grant income

Miscellaneous income

Total

56,810

31,739

57,729

114,101

1,272

261,651

Income £

Salaries and related costs

Governance

Conference overheads

LALY overheads

CPM pilot costs

Training expenses

Office and general running costs

Total

69,856

3,990

13,364

37,982

85,780

4,296

8,776

224,044

Expenses £


Director’s Report

Director’s Report

LAPG was established 35 years ago by agroup of legal aid lawyers whorecognised the need for a body torepresent the interests of those workingwithin the system and the clients theyserve. Formally constituted in 1983,LAPG is now a membership bodyrepresenting firms and not-for-profitorganisations across England and Walesas well as individual barrister membersand members of the Association ofCosts Lawyers who do legal aid work.

LAPG insists on the United Kingdomproviding a legal aid system thatprotects all the vulnerable in society. We will positively fight any unjustGovernment decisions or policieswherever that protection is threatened.

As an organisation, LAPG is well knownfor contributing to and influencing bothoperational and policy matters. We arecommitted to access to justice and toensuring that the legal aid scheme isaccessible to as many people as possible.We also believe that the scheme itselfneeds to be clear and fit for purpose.

We have set out the headlines of whatwe do throughout this report. Here aresome of the organisation’sachievements:

● We sent out almost one update aweek to members, which may stressan important deadline or cover arange of issues from CCMS to aconsultation deadline, from newsabout LAPG events to reports onengaging with government aboutdomestic abuse evidence changes.

● We responded to member queries –about CCMS, high profile cases,payment problems, contractenquiries and many more.

● We have carried out significant workon CCMS with our members and fedback to the LAA.

● We delivered training on the post-LASPO world, our annual

conference and dinner and re-launched the Friends of LAPG.

● We met regularly with the MOJ andLAA, seeking to improve the schemefor clients and practitioners

● We ran the APPG on Legal Aidalong with YLAL – raising awarenessin parliament with meetingsfocussing on civil and criminal legalaid issues

● We celebrated the work of legal aidlawyers at the LALYs, July 2016 inLondon

● We worked closely with Resolution,the Law Society, HLPA and others toinfluence LAA/MOJ policy andpractice. I am a member of the LawSociety’s Access to JusticeCommittee and am on the board ofLegal Action Group. I have spoken ata number of events about legal aidissues and I am a Commissioner forthe Bach Commission reviewing thelegal aid system.

What next for LAPG? We will continueto develop our three primary areas ofwork: influencing, operational supportand building a community of legal aidlawyers.

Looking ahead, LAPG will:

● Work with practitioners,representative bodies and the LAAto improve CCMS

● Domestic abuse evidencerequirements continue to be a focus

● Scrutinise and help membersnavigate the 2018 civil tender round

● Continue to work with otherrepresentative bodies on civil andcriminal legal aid issues

● Continue to try to improve thesystem – particularly the risk carriedby practitioners and the bureaucraticburdens

● Continue to deliver high qualitytraining and support to members,and develop resources for NfP adviceagencies

● Expand the APPG – reach out tocaseworkers and those at the coalface in MP’s surgeries and localauthority teams to increase theirunderstanding of the legal aidscheme

It has become increasingly difficult formany people to obtain advice andrepresentation. We shall continue totake that as our focus and to supportthe many dedicated practitioners whostrive to deliver a quality service that isfrequently poorly paid and is mademore difficult by the amount of unpaidwork involved.

We thank all our members and ourfunders, our Committee in particularand invite those who are not membersto join us to support what we do.

Carol Storer

Become a Member of LAPG

Membership is crucial to LAPG. Whilewe represent the interests of all legal aidlawyers and fight to improve thesystem, it is our membership that givesus a voice and allows us to work withcolleagues and policy-makers to effectchange.

Annual membership for firms starts atas little as £195.00. Membership canalso be negotiated via associations andumbrella bodies. Individuals such asbarristers pay £100 and pupils andstudents receive reduced rates.

All members receive regular emailupdates and access to LAPG’sexperienced staff and Committeemembers to assist with operationalissues. Members receive discountedaccess to events and training courses.

Become a Friend of LAPG

Friends of LAPG was set up to enable usto engage with the wider legalcommunity. We wish to widen ourinfluence from our membership tothose who support our aims and accessto justice. We aim to keep our Friendsup to date on what is going on in thelegal aid world, with our campaigns andour parliamentary activity.

If you have an interest in access tojustice, and you’re not currentlyworking in legal aid, speak to us aboutbecoming a Friend of LAPG. Thisrequires no financial contribution, justsupport for our work.

Become a member of LAPG’s Committee

LAPG is supported by a Committee ofexperienced and knowledgeablepractitioners and practice managerswho volunteer their time. TheCommittee represents all areas of lawcovered by legal aid and members comefrom small, medium and large firmsand not-for-profits from across thecountry. Committee members have abreadth of expertise and are true coalface practitioners.

The Committee provides governanceand supports LAPG’s staff members.Committee members assist withenquiries from member organisationsand are actively involved incampaigning and provide practicalsupport for our events.

Attend our events

We run ‘pop-up’ seminars around thecountry to keep practitioners up to dateon the latest legal aid news. We hold anannual conference and dinner and theLegal Aid Lawyers of the Year awards.Join us for these events to help us build acommunity of practitioners all united bythe common belief in the fundamentalimportance of an accessible justicesystem. Meeting and working withpractitioners at the coal face also helpsus to understand the day-to-day issuesaffecting those trying to deliver legal aidservices.


Supporting LAPG

Supporting LAPG

Become a Volunteer

We’re always open to suggestions onhow those with an interest in our workcan assist on a voluntary basis. Are youinterested in research? Can you providetechnical expertise? Can you help usreach out to our members? If you wantto help please get in touch with us.

● If you’re interested in becominginvolved with us or supporting ourwork please get in touch:[email protected]

LLST Sponsored walk 2014

Lord Bach

Thank yous


Thank you

LAPG Committee members:

Jenny Beck, Co-Chair, NicolaMackintosh, QC (Hons), Co-Chair,Phil Walsh, Vice Chair, Jo Hickman,Treasurer, Julie Bishop, MatthewHowgate, Laura Janes, Helen Johnson,Jawaid Luqmani, William Montague,Lisa Phillips, Kirsten Powrie, LucyVerity, Beverley Watkins and YoungLegal Aid Lawyer reps Heather Thomas,Rachel Francis and Oliver Carter

Recently stood down from the Committee

● Melissa Butler, formerly Steel and Shamash

● David Emmerson OBE of AnthonyGold Solicitors, former Chair

● Wendy Hewstone of Access Law,former Secretary

● Lawrence Lupin, Lawrence LupinSolicitors

Funders

● Baring Foundation, ● Legal Education Foundation● Future Advice FundSpecial thanks to: Matthew Smerdon,Alan Humphreys, Jill Gale, Rachel Billet

Former staff

Project workers for the APPG on LegalAid: Ann Lewis and Eleanor Sanders.And some great temporary admin staffincluding: Sean Moran, Megan Thomasand Joe Fitzsimmonds

For proof reading theManifesto

Patricia Verity

Trainers

Vicky Ling, Matt Howgate, AndrewOtterburn, Jo Edwards, Jacqui Scott,David Gilmore, Anthony Edwards andDr Paul Davies from the LAA, and theteam at CrowdJustice

LALY founder/co-organiser andincisive freelance journalist

Fiona Bawdon

All the wonderful sponsors ofthe LALYs and the conference

Accesspoint, The Bar Council, BidwellHenderson, CILEx, DG Legal, DNALegal, Irwin Mitchell, John M Hayes,The Law Society, Legal Action Group,the Legal Education Foundation, MatrixChambers, Park Square ResolutionBarristers, tikit, TV Edwards andfriends of LALY16

LALY Judges

They looked through almost 900 pages of nominationsNoel Arnold, Fiona Bawdon, JennyBeck, Rob Brown, Richard Charlton, S Chelvan, Sir Keir Starmer QC MP,Marcia Willis-Stewart and for the ITaward: Matthew Ryder QC andJimmy Vestbirk

Great organisations...

...Who give us so much support in somany ways... Garden Court Chambers,Legal Action Group, London LegalSupport Trust

Hosts of seminars and meetings

Bindmans, Clifford Chance, GardenCourt, Herbert Smith Freehills, JacksonCanter and Shelter

Volunteers for the LALYS

Cal Bawdon, Saul Bawdon, SophieSpector, Luke Annis, James Adshead,John Briant, Ellen Wright, MahimaGupta, Josie Hicklin, Nishmita Bhamra,Tim Potter and Lucy Logan-Green

Providers of office space

(emergency and planned)LASA, Advice UK, Steel and Shamashand Deighton Pierce Glynn

For encyclopaedic knowledge

Paul Seddon at the Association of CostsLawyers for his encyclopaedic knowledgeof costs, Richard Miller of The LawSociety for his encyclopaedic knowledgeof all things legal aid, Matt Howgate andVicky Ling

And a thank you to thehelpful staff ...

... at the LAA for attending events,providing data and answering queries,especially the fastest responder toemails John Sirodcar.

Technical Support

● Accesspoint ● Danny Lang ● James Capper ● Inzar Haq● DG Legal

Photography throughout this publication:LALY photographer, Robert Aberman

John M Hayes and Elspeth Thompson LAPG Conference 2015 – Plenary session

Contact us

Legal Aid Practitioners Group12 Baylis Road, London SE1 7AATel: 020 7833 7431Email:[email protected]

www.lapg.co.uk

www.lapg.co.uk

Documents

LAPG Annual Review | 2016