The Scottish Legal Aid Board has removed a firm and a solicitor from the Criminal Legal Assistance Register

Friday 1 March 2002

The Scottish Legal Aid Board removed the firm of Airlie Mellon, 46 Carlton Place, Glasgow, and its partner, Thomas Mellon Esq., from the Criminal Legal Assistance Register for failing to comply with the Code of Practice for Criminal Legal Assistance.

This means that neither the firm of Airlie Mellon nor Thomas Mellon are now entitled to provide criminal legal aid or criminal advice and assistance under the Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 1986.

Ends

Journalists please contact: Janet Nixon tel. 0131 226 7061 ext. 309. or email nixonja@slab.org.uk

Notes to editors

1. The Code of Practice in relation to criminal legal assistance is operated by the Board and came into effect on 1 October 1998. To register and remain registered to practise criminal legal assistance, individual firms and solicitors must show that they meet the standards of service set out by the Code in three main areas - management and administration systems, quality of service and standards of professional conduct.
   
2. Criminal legal assistance means criminal legal aid or advice and assistance in relation to criminal matters and allows people who would not otherwise be able to afford it to have the help of a solicitor, and in some circumstances an advocate, for their legal problems. To receive legal aid, applicants must consult a solicitor. The Board itself does not provide a legal aid service - it pays solicitors and advocates to do this.
   
3. The Scottish Legal Aid Board is responsible for managing legal aid in Scotland. It is a nondepartmental public body set up under the Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 1986.
   
4. The Board's mission is to develop and deliver appropriate access to quality legal assistance for those eligible, in a cost-effective manner. The Board's main tasks are to consider and then grant or refuse applications for legal aid; to scrutinise accounts and pay solicitors and advocates for the legal aid work they do and to advise Scottish Ministers on legal aid matters.