QUICK LINKS
ADVICE AND ASSISTANCE
Civil and children’s advice and assistance / ABWOR mandate (AA LAO CIV) - revised June 2011
Criminal advice and assistance/ABWOR mandate (AA LAO CRIM)
Criminal ABWOR data capture form (CRIM ABWOR D-C)
Advice and assistance verification mandate - (AA/VERF/MAND) pdf version
- (AA/VERF/MAND) word version
Advice and assistance – capital declaration – AA/FIN/CIV
CRIMINAL
Summary criminal legal aid mandate (LAO /CRIM) - Update 13 June 2011 - this has now been reduced to one page
Summary criminal legal aid data capture form (CRIM SUMM D-C)
Solemn criminal legal aid mandate (LAO/SOL)
Criminal legal aid transfer mandate (LAO/CRIMTR)
Criminal legal aid appeal mandate (LAO/APP)
Reg 15 Special Urgency for Criminal Appeals data capture form (Reg15 D-C)
CIVIL
Civil legal aid mandate form (CIV /LAO)
Civil legal aid data capture form
Civil legal aid category codes – special urgency and full application (CIV LAO Category Codes)
Civil legal aid transfer mandate (CIVTR/LAO)
General Advice
For every advice and assistance, criminal or civil legal aid application, transfer and criminal review (of a decision to refuse legal aid) application made online, your firm must obtain and retain the client’s signature, to be stored in your office. You can do this by either printing the completed online application or the client mandate. You do not have to send us a copy, but as part of our audits and quality checks, we will randomly verify that applications or mandates have been signed.
If necessary, you may complete the application in the absence of your client. However, it will remain your responsibility to ensure that your client signs and dates it.
Print the completed online application
Once you have successfully completed an application online there is an option to print the application. This is the simplest and most efficient way to obtain the client’s signature if you are completing the application online while the client is in your office. At the bottom of the printout, there is a space for the client's signature.
Ensure that both the client and solicitor sign and date this and that you keep it in the client’s file.
Using Legal Aid Online mandates and data capture forms
If you are not completing the application online while the client is in your office, you should use the appropriate Legal Aid Online mandate to record key information and capture the applicant’s and solicitor’s signatures.
All mandates must be:
• Signed and dated by the client
• Signed and dated by the solicitor
• Completed in full, including details of the type of ABWOR granted, where applicable
• The criminal review requires only the client’s signature.
In some cases we have also provided a data capture form to capture additional information. We have produced this following feedback and it is designed to help your business processes. It allows the solicitor to record the information required for the application. The solicitor can then use this to personally complete the application online, or give it to a member of staff to complete online, or dictate the details to a member of staff to complete the application online. The data capture form is not required to be signed or retained.
You can download the mandates and data capture forms from this page or follow the link from the Forms page.
Advice and Assistance
Completing the online mandates
• You can use the main mandate when you are seeing a client away from your office or a PC.
• When you return to the office, complete the application online using the information recorded in the mandate.
• Retain the signed and dated mandate on file.
Completing the criminal ABWOR data capture forms
• These allow you to collect the information you may need to complete the application online.
• You do not need to keep a paper copy.
You can down load the links to the mandates and data capture form here
Civil and children’s advice and assistance / ABWOR mandate (AA LAO CIV) - revised June 2011
Criminal advice and assistance/ABWOR mandate (AA LAO CRIM)
Criminal ABWOR data capture form (CRIM ABWOR D-C)
Advice and assistance verification mandate - (AA/VERF/MAND) pdf version
- (AA/VERF/MAND) word version
Advice and assistance – capital declaration – AA/FIN/CIV
**Use this only if we send you a message asking you to complete it or if you have used the AA/LAO/CIV (Version May 2011) to obtain the applicant’s signature.**
Following feedback from solicitors, the new AA/LAO/CIV (Version June 2011) now incorporates a new applicants’ declaration about their capital. Therefore, you no longer need to ask the applicant to complete the AA/FIN/CIV to confirm their capital if you use this new version. The financial verification mandate is now contained in the AA/VERF/MAND listed above.
The AA/FIN/CIV should only be used if we send you a message asking you to complete it or if you have used the AA/LAO/CIV (Version May 2011) to obtain the applicant’s signature.
Criminal Legal Aid
Completing the online client mandate
• In all cases a summary criminal legal aid or solemn criminal legal aid mandate must be completed and signed.
• When you return to the office, complete the application online using the information recorded in the mandate.
• Retain the signed and dated mandate on file.
Using the summary criminal legal aid data capture form
• This allows you to collect the information that you may need to complete the application online.
• You do not need to keep a paper copy.
Transfers/Reviews
You must complete the criminal transfer and criminal review mandates, obtain the client’s signature and retain this on file, before completing an application online. You can print the review mandate from the refusal notification.
You can down load the links to the mandates and data capture form here
Summary criminal legal aid mandate (LAO /CRIM) - Update 13 June 2011 - this has now been reduced to one page
Summary criminal legal aid data capture form (CRIM SUMM D-C)
Solemn criminal legal aid mandate (LAO/SOL)
Criminal legal aid transfer mandate (LAO/CRIMTR)
Civil Legal Aid
Completing the online client mandate
• In all cases a civil legal aid mandate (CIV/LAO) must be completed and signed.
• You are still required to provide the statutory statement online and your client is agreeing to this by signing the mandate.
• The client’s/partner’s signature is also required on the mandate where an online financial assessment form 1 is being completed.
• The mandate also covers you for any review or amendment applications.
• You complete the application online using the information recorded in the mandate
• Retain the signed and dated mandate on file
Using the civil legal aid data capture form
• This allows you to collect the information that you may to complete the application online.
• You do not need to keep a paper copy.
Transfers
The civil transfer mandate must be used to obtain the clients signature, to be retained on file, before completing the application online.
Financial Eligibility - Form 2
The new, shorter financial eligibility form, CIV/FIN/2 is available to download from this website on the Forms page. The new format allows you to send the form to your client for completion electronically but the form must be signed by the applicant before it is scanned and then sent to us as an online attachment or with the barcode sheet to send by post.
You can down load the links to the mandates and data capture form here
Civil legal aid mandate form (CIV /LAO)
Civil legal aid data capture form
Civil legal aid category codes – special urgency and full application (CIV LAO Category Codes)
Civil legal aid transfer mandate (CIVTR/LAO)
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