CLS news

A new ‘Improving your Quality’ guide has been launched to provide guidance to practitioners.

Based on peer review reports from a range of categories, the guide gives peer reviewers’ comments on what constitutes good practice and like the other guides in the series aims to help improve the quality standard of legal aid work.

It may be of particular interest to trainee lawyers, but people at all levels may find it useful.The Generic Guide has been produced with a focus on the areas of law where a category specific guide isn’t available.

Each peer review results in a report on the provider’s work. The report identifies the provider’s strengths as well as any quality issues and makes suggestions for improvements. The reports are therefore a useful source of information on areas of good practice and areas where improvements are needed. Peer reviews have now been carried out in additional categories - Community Care, Clinical Negligence, Consumer General Contract, Education, Action Against the Police and Public Law. 

Reports from many of these categories have been used as source material for the Generic Guide. In April 2005 the LSC began to use independent Peer Review as a quality assessment tool to check the quality of providers’ work. 

Peer reviewers are independent legal practitioners who have gone through a rigorous selection process operated by the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies and the LSC Provider Assurance team. 

The Institute’s director, Professor Avrom Sherr, who devised the review process, welcomed the publication of the Generic Guide saying it will “give the profession access to peer review findings and help support those wishing to achieve the highest levels of quality of legal advice and work”. 

Since 2006 the LSC has helped providers by making this information available through ‘Improving your Quality’ guides.

There are now eight, covering Crime, Debt, Employment, Family, Housing, Immigration, Mental Health and Welfare Benefits.

The guides are available to view and download from our website. 

More information

Please contact Grazia Trivedi.

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