LASPO one year on

The Bar Council has launched a research project into the impact of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO), starting with a survey of the family and civil Bar, costs lawyers, clerks and practice managers. It will use this research as an empirical evidence base for a full report, due to be published in September.

Bar chair, Nicholas Lavender QC says: “One year on from the implementation of LASPO we have, unsurprisingly, seen a sorry state of affairs in many areas of family and civil law. 

“Anecdotally, we know that, as a result of the government’s cuts, there are more litigants in person, more delays in trials and more appeals. Vulnerable individuals are struggling to get access to legal representation.”

Meanwhile, a judicial roundtable organised by the Association of Costs Lawyers has heard that smaller law firms are struggling with the demands of budgeting, while larger practices are not as capable as they think.

District Judge Margaret Langley, who sits at Central London County Court, told the event: “If I have three [multi-track cases] listed in a day, at least one will not have a budget. When you tell them, they look at you blankly…It is astonishing.”