Making Legal Aid Work: a handbook for practitioners
Author: Vicky Ling and Simon Pugh
Please note: LAG will be looking to publish the LAG Legal Aid Handbook 2010 in the autumn of 2010, which will update some material contained in this title. Please e-mail: lag@lag.org.uk to be sent further information when available.
Full Price: £40
Edition: First (April 2009) 352pp
Making Legal Aid Work: a handbook for practitioners is the only comprehensive single-volume guide to the civil and criminal legal aid scheme available. It is full of case studies, checklists and practical hints that draw on the considerable experience of the authors.
'Making Legal Aid Work: a handbook for practitioners is a welcome arrival for both civil and criminal practitioners. The book is clearly set out and has good case studies which clarify the points being made in the text. It sets out in various chapters how to conduct cases and then moves on to how to get paid for the different areas of law! The book is admirably clear on some very tricky points, eg, the description of the statutory charge in family cases. There should be at least one copy in every office where legal aid work is carried out.' Carol Storer, director of the Legal Aid Practitioners Group.
'This book is the most comprehensive guide to legal aid since the old fashioned Legal Aid Handbook. It is set out in a very easy to understand way, packed with practical examples which bring the regulations into reality, but also each part is cross-referenced to the relevant LSC specification, regulation or guidance. It is very easy to find your way around with clear logical headings and an excellent index which reflect the day-to-day usage of legal aid practitioners. It has very useful tips on how to deal with everyday problems. It is an essential reference book for all from the senior lawyer to the new paralegal. If only the commission would employ Ling and Pugh to re-write the LSC Manual, then all our professional lives would be easier.' David Emmerson, partner with Edwards Duthie Solicitors.
Making Legal Aid Work: a handbook for practitioners is the ultimate quick reference guide to legal aid and provides key information about all the types of public funding, dealing with common queries which crop up frequently in practice. Adopting a practical, hands-on approach, it is an indispensable purchase for new caseworkers and trainees as well as experienced practitioners.
Signposting relevant Legal Services Commission (LSC) material and sources of further information it illustrates how to get and keep LSC contracts, as well as providing invaluable insight into the quality standards required: Specialist Quality Mark, Peer Review and Key Performance Indicators.
The authors also provide a policy round-up and consider policy developments including Community Legal Advice Centres and Networks.
Contents include:
Part A: Doing legal aid work
- Read this before you start!
- Taking on civil and family cases
- Conducting a civil case
- Conducting a family private law case
- Conducting a family public law case
- Family mediation
- Conducting an immigration case
- Conducting a mental health case
- Conducting a criminal case
- Getting paid for civil and family work
- Getting paid for criminal work
Part B: Managing legal aid work
- The legal aid framework
- Legal aid contracts
- Quality standards and performance monitoring
- Finances
- Legal aid - the future
- Appendices
Essential reading for all legal aid practitioners including those in Law Centres®, Citizens Advice Bureaux and advice-giving charities, legal cashiers and accountants, district judges and cost officers.
Authors
Vicky Ling has worked in the not-for-profit advice sector for over 25 years. She was one of the first managers recruited by the then Legal Aid Board to implement its quality assurance standard and is now an independent consultant specialising in legal aid practice. She has worked with over 200 firms of solicitors and not-for-profit agencies to help them improve practice management and meet Legal Services Commission requirements. Vicky was a founder member of the Civil Justice Council and is currently serving a second term. She is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Quality Assurance.
Simon Pugh is a solicitor and for eight years was practice manager of Wilson & Co, a large legal aid firm in north London. He is now Head of Legal Services at Shelter. He has extensive experience of civil and criminal legal aid practice, contract management and compliance. He was co-author (with Vicky Ling) of Understanding Legal Aid (2003) and contributed to the Carter Survival Handbook (2007). He is a contributor to Cordery on Solicitors and an assessor on the Immigration Accreditation Scheme.
Sample chapter
Chapter one (pdf:103Kb)
Reviews
ISBN
/ ISSN
: 978 1 903307 68 7
Please e-mail: lag@lag.org.uk to report any problems with ordering from the LAG website. Thank you.
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