Initial entry of an individual solicitor onto FAMS

If you intend to carry out any form of legal aid work:

  • You must be entered on our Financial Accounting and Management System (FAMS) before you undertake the work.
  • The firm that employs you must also be entered on FAMS as a legal aid firm.

This allows us to accept your legal aid applications and pay for that work.

You can start this process either by a telephone call or in writing. We will need basic details such as

  • Your name.
  • The firm you are working for (if it already has a legal aid code, this would be helpful).
  • Branch within the firm that you want a link to, including the branch code and address.
  • A contact number.
  • Your status within the organisation – for example assistant or second year trainee.

You can, if you wish, be linked to all branches within a firm but you must specify a default branch (usually the head office).

We will enter your name on FAMS, allocate you a practitioner code and, within three working days, send you a FAMS registration form. You need to complete and sign the mandate and return them to our Receipts and Payments Department together with any other relevant documentation (e.g a copy of your up-to-date practising certificate (both sides if applicable)). We will activate your practitioner code when we receive these and confirm in writing that the code can now be used.

Entry onto the FAMS database does not mean you are registered to carry out legal aid work. You cannot provide legal assistance if your firm is not registered. In criminal and children's legal assistance you must register as a solicitor even if your firm is already registered.