Reports | Young Legal Aid Lawyers

Aspiring Solicitors & YLAL in Stoke on Trent: Networking & Introduction to Legal Aid 28.03.2017

"Insightful and practical; exactly what any aspiring lawyer needs to achieve success"

Jack Bizzell – Staffordshire University Student – LLB Hons Law 2 Year Fast Track

On 28 March 2017, Staffordshire University Law School was delighted to host a joint event between Young Legal Aid Lawyers (YLAL) and Aspiring Solicitors (AS). Nearly 80 people attended the event, including a number of solicitors and barristers from Stoke and Manchester.

Response to LGFS Consultation

On 24 March 2017, YLAL responded to the Ministry of Justice Consultation on the Litigators’ Graduated Fee Scheme (LGFS) and Court Appointees. Our full response to the consultation is attached below.

The LGFS is the scheme through which criminal defence solicitors are paid for publicly funded work carried out in the Crown Court. The consultation proposes the following reforms to Crown Court work:

Response to HPCDS consultation

On 16 March 2017, YLAL responded to the Ministry of Justice Consultation on the Housing Possession Court Duty Scheme: Commissioning Sustainable Services. Our full consultation response is attached to this page.

Response to AGFS Consultation

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.

Response to BSB consultation

In January 2017, YLAL responded to the consultation by the Bar Standards Board on the Future Training of the Bar: Future Routes to Authorisation. This follows a previous consultation which closed in October 2015, to which YLAL also responded. You can find our response to the previous consultation here.

YLAL South West 07.02.2017

We met at the University of Law, Bristol, on 7 February 2017 for our event 'Uncovering the truth behind deaths in custody', hearing from experts on the law and procedures that apply when individuals die in state detention.

SRA consultation response

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.

Becoming a Legal Aid Lawyer

On Wednesday 9 November 2016, we held a careers event, 'Becoming a Legal Aid Lawyer', at London South Bank University. Young Legal Aid Lawyers co-chairs Oliver Carter and Rachel Francis presented an introduction to YLAL and a brief history of legal aid, from the Poor Prisoners Defence Act 1903, which introduced criminal legal aid for defendants in the higher criminal courts, to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 ('LASPO'), which wholly or partially removed a number of areas of law from the scope of legal aid.

YLAL North minutes 01.11.2016

On 1 November, YLAL North groups in Manchester and Sheffield heard from Lawyers Against Poverty about their exerience of the refugee crisis in Jordan.

In June 2016, three solicitors embarked on a fact-finding mission to the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan as part of a Lawyers Against Poverty project.

YLAL Minutes 12.10.2016

At our last London meeting we heard from Mike McColgan from the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign about the need for a public, transparent, inquiry into the actions of the police against miners at Orgreave in June 1984. This is important to get truth and justice for the miners and families of those involved in the incident, to hold the state accountable in an open forum, to make sure that justice is done.