CLS news

The Law Society has launched a Judicial Review of the process of awarding contracts in the LSC’s recent family legal aid tender. 

A summary of the challenge is available on the Law Society’s website. 

On Friday 3 September, the LSC and the Law Society provisionally agreed to a one month extension of the current unified civil contract.  This has been agreed to ensure that there is sufficient time to work through the JR process effectively. 

Negotiations with the Law Society, ASA and other interested parties are ongoing.  Following the latest discussions, on Monday 6 September, the LSC can confirm:

• The contracts currently in place will now expire at midnight on Sunday, 14 November
• The new civil contracts will start first thing on the morning of Monday, 15 November
• To cover the one month extension, current contract holders will receive an additional one twelfth of their New Matter Start allocation

Hugh Barrett, Executive Director of the LSC said: “The LSC are committed to completing this round of tenders.  We will be as flexible as possible to ease the process for our providers, and we are doing everything possible to resolve matters to secure quality services for our clients.”