The way ahead for legal aid reform

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Legal Aid Reform: The Way Ahead
Research on legal aid reforms
For more information

Legal Aid Reform: The Way Ahead

‘The Way Ahead’ is our programme for transforming the legal aid system.

It flows from Lord Carter's independent review of how legal aid services are purchased and the joint LSC/MoJ consultation Legal aid: a sustainable future that followed.

See Documents for:

The Way Ahead paper
analysis of consultation responses
summary of what we changed following the consultation
note on the Not-for-Profit Contract 2007
Regulatory Impact Assessment and appendices.

Research on legal aid reform

We commissioned confidential analysis from Otterburn Legal Consulting into the potential impact on criminal legal aid providers of fixed fee arrangements proposed by Lord Carter.

We considered the report alongside the responses to the consultation and a range of other information, much of which has already been published.

The report and an explanatory background note are under Documents.

Other interested parties and stakeholders have also commissioned research on proposals for the procurement of legal services. A list of research and details on how to access the reports are under Documents.

For more information

Lord Carter published his independent review into legal aid procurement in July 2006. It sets out a programme of reforms to achieve a market based system that will change the way the government buys legal advice on behalf of the public.

The MoJ and the LSC responded with a joint consultation paper Legal Aid: a sustainable future that reflected Lord Carter's recommendations.

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Last updated: 03 December 2007