Funding Changes in Judicial Review Cases
Changes to the funding of judicial review cases will be implemented on 22 April 2014 when the Civil Legal Aid (Remuneration) (Amendment) (No 3) Regulations 2014 come into force.
Where an application for judicial review has been made in accordance with Part 54 of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 or Part 4 of the Tribunal Rules, payment for work done between the issue of proceedings and grant of permission will now be conditional upon permission to bring judicial review proceedings being granted or the LAA exercising their discretion to make payment where they consider it reasonable to do so.
In exercising their discretion, the LAA will take into account:
- The reason why a costs order or agreement was not obtained in favour of the client
- The extent to which, and the reason why, the client obtained the outcome sought in the proceedings
- The strength of the application for permission at the time it was filed, based on the law and facts which the solicitor knew or ought to have known at that time
Payments on account or of disbursements to the solicitor in accordance with the relevant contract will not be affected by these changes.
Implementation
The above changes apply to new cases where the application for funding is made from 22 April 2014 onwards.
The previous regulations will apply in the following circumstances:
- Licensed Work - applications signed and dated before 22 April 2014 and received by the LAA by 5pm on 29 April 2014
- Emergency Applications - where a determination is made before 22 April 2014 and the LAA is notified of the determination within 5 working days or where the application is emailed or faxed to, and received by, the LAA before 22 April 2014
- Online CCMS - successful applications submitted before 22 April 2014 (i.e by midnight on 21 April 2014)
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