Client Online Mandate Forms

This section of our site provides information for the legal profession. If you want to apply for legal aid, visit our Information for the public section.

Only a solicitor can complete and submit a legal aid application to us. To make an application for legal aid you should therefore consult your solicitor.

General Advice

• advice and assistance (A&A)
• criminal
• children's or civil legal aid
• transfer
• criminal review (of a decision to refuse legal aid)

You can do this by either printing the completed online application (A&A only) 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.

You must not use the old paper application forms to get a client’s signature.

Using Legal Aid Online mandates and data capture forms

If you are not completing the application online while the client is in your office, or if an online mandate is not available, 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

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.

Print the completed online application – Advice & Assistance only

Instead of using the paper mandate to get a client’s signature, you can print the successfully completed A&A online application online using the 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.

About using these forms

You will require Adobe (Acrobat) Reader to use the forms this software is free and available from Adobe's website. To use the forms, you can open each form and then save it to your computer, or you can right-click on the form name and then save it to your computer.

If you get an error message when opening up a form it is probably because you do not have Adobe software or a current version of Adobe software.

Individual online guidance, mandates and data capture forms can be downloaded below. Select from the following to jump to relevant section: Civil legal assistance. Criminal legal assistance. Children's legal assistance