YLAL News

On 2 March 2017, YLAL responded to the consultation by the Ministry of Justice on Reforming the Advocates’ Graduated Fee Scheme (AGFS), the scheme through which criminal defence advocates are paid for publicly funded work carried out in the Crown Court. Our full response to the consultation is attached to this page below.

Welcome to our update of the latest legal aid and access to justice news from January 2017. If you would like to catch up on the most important legal aid news from 2016, read our Year in Review.

On 9 January 2017, YLAL responded to the second consultation by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) on its proposal to introduce a Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE), intended to serve as a common professional assessment for all solicitors on the point of qualification. You can read our full response to the consultation below, and our response to the initial consultation on the SQE in March 2016 here.

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The Access to Justice Commission chaired by Labour peer Lord Bach released a damning interim report last week on “the crisis in the justice system of England and Wales”.