26 January 2012
Legal Services Commission v Loomba; Legal Services Commission v Ulasi; Legal Services Commission v Carter and others [2012] EWHC 29 (QB), [2012] All ER (D) 58 (Jan)
Queen’s Bench Division, Cranston J, 17 Jan 2012
The Legal Services Commission has the power to nil assess and thereby recoup payments on account pursuant to the incidental power in s 4(1)(b) of the Legal Aid Act 1988 (LAA 1988).
Jeremy Morgan QC and Rachel Sleeman (instructed by CKFT Solicitors) for the Commission. Peter Susman QC (instructed by Bindmans LLP) for the first defendant, (instructed by Ngozi Blessing Ulasi) for the second defendant and (instructed by Howell-Jones). for the third defendant.
Payment on account in relation to legal aid work was introduced to assist cash flow for legal aid lawyers. There was a recognition that, whereas private client work could be charged on a pay-as-you-go basis, legal aid payment might not be recoverable until some considerable time after a certificate had been issued, often long after the case had been concluded. Payment on account was initially confined to disbursements,
