Scottish Legal Aid Board

https://www.slab.org.uk/guidance/practical-guidance-to-give-to-experts/

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Civil Legal Aid

Page contents:

  • What information will you be asked for?
  • Invoice format – what to include in your invoice to the solicitor
  • Why do we not normally cover costs associated with research?
  • Travel and other expenses
  • Cancellation fees

Availability of Civil legal aid and application procedures

  • Definition of civil legal aid
  • Applications by corporate or unincorporated bodies and sole traders
  • Courts and tribunals in which civil legal aid is available
  • Proceeding for which civil legal aid is not (or only partially) available: ‘excepted proceedings’
  • Civil legal aid: statutory tests for applications
  • Other rights or facilities
  • Civil legal aid for matters outwith Scotland
  • What date is legal aid effective from?
  • The essential components of a civil legal aid application: forms, statutory statements, declaration
  • Civil legal aid and the role of opponents
  • Civil legal aid applications: statements and other documents we need
  • Rejection of civil legal aid applications: consequences of missing information
  • Civil legal aid applications by someone unable to sign or suffering from a mental disorder
  • Civil legal aid applications by person resident outwith the UK
  • Civil legal aid application by or on behalf of children: assessing ‘general understanding’ of instructing a solicitor
  • Our power to modify or impose conditions on grants of legal aid
  • Refusal of legal aid applications
  • Applications for civil legal aid for proceedings where we are a party
  • Disputing information: what to send us if you are acting on behalf of your client who is the opponent

Financial assessment

  • Financial eligibility for civil legal aid: general conditions and limits
  • Choosing the right financial information form for the client
  • Civil legal aid assessment period and its consequences: ‘period of computation’
  • Taking partners’ financial resources into account: civil legal aid
  • Civil legal aid: how we calculate income and what’s included
  • Civil legal aid: assessment of capital resources and relevant disregards/allowances
  • Financial assessment where applicant has deprived themselves of resources: no disregards given
  • Calculating disposable capital and disregards: are the resources the subject matter of dispute?
  • Financial assessment for special categories of applicant
  • Appellate proceedings: is a fresh financial assessment and additional contribution necessary?
  • Adults With Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000: modified financial assessment process
  • Will my client be liable to pay a contribution?

Assessing probable cause and reasonableness

  • Overview of reasonableness factors
  • Timing of the application and the status of the dispute
  • Prospects of success
  • Cost and benefit analysis
  • Strategic impact or wider public interest of the case

Merits of different types of case

  • TOOL: find the merits guidance for your case
  • Cohabitee cases
  • Gender Recognition cases
  • Cases involving disputes over children
  • Matrimonial property disputes
  • Divorce – non-financial provision cases
  • Divorce – financial provision cases
  • Applications for legal aid by curators ad litem for children
  • Interdicts, power of arrest and non-harassment orders
  • Reparation cases
  • Petition for Judicial Review
  • Legal aid for judicial review of our decisions
  • Actions of payment
  • Actions of reduction
  • Caution
  • Safeguarders – Adults with Incapacity
  • Fatal Accident Inquiries
  • Appellate proceedings
  • Applications by children
  • Defamation
  • Mortgage rights proceedings – Home Owner and Debtor Protection (Scotland) Act 2010
  • Actions in relation to private sector tenancies (including eviction proceedings in the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Housing and Property Chamber))
  • Proceeds of Crime cases
  • Adults with Incapacity (AWI)

Modified application procedures

  • Civil legal aid for child abduction/custody cases: simplified application arrangements for Hague Convention and European Convention on the custody of children cases
  • Civil legal aid cases under the European judgements convention: modified application procedure
  • Civil legal aid cases under the Maintenance Orders: Reciprocal Enforcement
  • Legal aid and cross-border disputes within the European Union: modified application procedure
  • Civil legal aid for maintenance obligation cases under Council Regulations (EC) No. 4/2009: circumstances where no financial assessment required

Special urgency

  • Cover for work done before a decision on the legal aid application: the nature and types of special urgency
  • Special urgency: satisfying yourself that a client is financially eligible
  • List of circumstances in which you may undertake urgent work without prior approval
  • Arrangements for collection of your client’s contributions in special urgency: the client mandate
  • Assessment of special urgency applications: tests applied by us
  • Special urgency guidance: family cases
  • Rejected or continued applications for civil legal aid: limited circumstance in which special urgency is available
  • The importance of providing reasons for special urgency in the body of your application
  • Special urgency, expenses, and property recovered or preserved: circumstances where we may not be able to pay you
  • Status of your client under special urgency: contributions and requirement to provide financial information
  • Special urgency and extension or amendments to existing legal aid
  • Special urgency and sanction applications: usual sanction procedure applies
  • Special urgency and undertaking necessary collateral work: timing issues
  • Special urgency work’s status: issues your client to be aware where it is not a grant of legal aid
  • Special urgency situations where the client does not comply with our requests for information: potential effects
  • Special urgency: procedure for exemption from court fees

Cost limits

  • Cost limitations on grants of civil legal aid: how the limit is calculated and what is covered
  • The importance of monitoring your case costs: considering sufficient expenditure
  • Case cost limits: payments from the Fund and judicial expenses cases
  • Applying for funding beyond the standard cost limit: factors to be addressed
  • Seeking a review of the case cost limit applied: procedure and information to provide
  • Applying for an increase beyond the standard cost limit: procedure and information to provide
  • Increases in long running cases or with multiple legally-aided parties: our monitoring role
  • Situations in which retrospective authority for a case cost increase may be granted
  • TOOL: standard cost limit of your case

After a grant, and prior approval needed

  • After a grant: extensions or amendments to grants of civil legal aid
  • Key points about approval
  • Applying for approval before, during and after a grant of legal aid
  • Employment of counsel
  • Employment of expert witnesses
  • Instructing a medical or health professional
  • Practical guidance to give to witnesses
  • Practical guidance to give to experts
  • Practical guidance to give to shorthand writers
  • Work of an unusual nature or likely to involve unusually large expenditure
  • After a grant: prior approval and the execution of diligence
  • Stage reporting
  • Changes of nominated solicitor
  • TOOL: funding for child welfare report
  • TOOL: sanction required if not acting as an expert?
  • TOOL: find a template sanction
  • TOOL: common types of work involving unusually large expenditure or unusual work

Changes of circumstances and withdrawal of legal aid

  • Duty to report change of circumstances
  • Duty to report abuse of civil legal aid
  • Our power to amend financial assessment: potential scenarios
  • Suspension of civil legal aid: relevant scenarios and impact
  • Termination of civil legal aid on change of circumstances
  • Regulation 31: termination of legal aid where conduct of your client is incompatible with continued grant
  • Termination of legal aid in cases of false or incomplete information

High cost and complex cases

  • Civil cases subject to special arrangements: criteria for identifying high cost and/or complex cases
  • Dedicated contact from us in high cost/complex cases
  • Our role in identifying and avoiding duplication of work across high cost/complex civil cases

Address

Scottish Legal Aid Board
Thistle House
91 Haymarket Terrace
Edinburgh
Scotland
EH12 5HE

DX555250, Edinburgh 30

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Get in Touch

  • general@slab.org.uk
  • 0131 226 7061

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