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Lord Chancellor’s Guidance on Exceptional Case Funding
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Guidance after Gudanaviciene In
http://www.familylaw.co.uk/news_and_comment/gudanaviciene-legal-aid-guidance-not-compatible-with-a-right-to-a-fair-trial)
Family Law News considered
R (ota Gudanaviciene & Ors) v The Director of Legal Aid Casework & Ors [2014] EWCA Civ 1622. The Court of Appeal found the Lord Chancellor’s guidance for grant of exceptional case legal aid funding (ECF) was partially not compatible with European Convention 1950 on human rights. The Guidance ‘impermissibly sends a clear signal to caseworkers and the Director that the refusal of legal aid will amount to a breach only in rare and extreme cases’ (para [181]). The threshold for grant was set too high.
On 9 June 2015 the Lord Chancellor published
Exceptional Funding Guidance (Non-Inquests)[1] (the
Guidance) revised in the light of
Gudanaviciene. This note considers those revisions and whether – still – the ECF scheme is not Conventions compliant.
Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO) s 10(3) explains when ECF should be granted. It is...
Read the full article here.
