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18 September 2015 / David Burrows
Issue: 7668 / Categories: Features , Family
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Things are looking up

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Mr Justice Collins & IS: good legal aid news for family litigants & protected parties says David Burrows

Section 10 of the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO) and its exceptional case funding (ECF) was described by the Ministry of Justice as the safety net for clients who need representation in civil proceedings (mostly family law, housing and immigration). Until IS v The Director of Legal Aid Casework & Anor [2015] EWHC 1965 (Admin), [2015] All ER (D) 149 (Jul)—judgment handed down on 15 July 2015—the net’s mesh seemed large. Even since IS the availability of legal aid and the process of applying for it will be no breeze—for lay applicants and legal advisers alike. However, IS will be a substantial step forward for such applicants, and a means for civil legal aid lawyers proportionally to improve their work-base, so viciously altered since April 2013.

In June 2014 Collins J found the Lord Chancellor’s original Exceptional Funding Guidance (Non-Inquests) (Guidance I: issued by the Lord Chancellor under LASPO, s 4(3)(b)) to be unlawful ( Gudanaviciene v [LAA] [2014] EWHC 1840 (Admin),

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NEWS
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NLJ this week: No such thing as a ‘Welsh seat’
Talk of a reserved ‘Welsh seat’ on the Supreme Court is misplaced. In NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC explains that the Constitutional Reform Act treats ‘England and Wales’ as one jurisdiction, with no statutory Welsh slot
NLJ this week: Jury reform risks justice for efficiency’s sake
The government’s plan to curb jury trials has sparked ‘jury furore’. Writing in NLJ this week, David Locke, partner at Hill Dickinson, says the rationale is ‘grossly inadequate’
NLJ this week: Crypto fightback offers ‘new frontier for law’
A year after the $1.5bn Bybit heist, crypto fraud is booming—but so is recovery. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Holloway, founder and CEO of M2 Recovery, warns that scams hit at least $14bn in 2025, fuelled by ‘pig butchering’ cons and AI deepfakes
NLJ this week: Time to revive the duty to report crime?
After Woodcock confirmed no general duty to warn, debate turns to the criminal law. Writing in NLJ this week, Charles Davey of The Barrister Group urges revival of misprision or a modern equivalent
NLJ this week: When are experts truly ‘necessary’?
Family courts are tightening control of expert evidence. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Chris Pamplin says there is ‘no automatic right’ to call experts; attendance must be ‘necessary in the interests of justice’ under FPR Pt 25
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