The Civil Legal Aid (Scotland) Regulations 2002

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations consolidate with amendments and revoke the Civil Legal Aid (Scotland) Regulations 1996 (“the 1996 Regulations”) and the Regulations amending those Regulations.

The main amendments are as follows:–

(a) the provisions relating to the availability of civil legal aid in matters of special urgency are amended so that–

(i) any contribution which may be payable by a person for whom special urgency work is done is paid to the Scottish Legal Aid Board (“the Board”); and

(ii) where an application for civil legal aid is refused after a solicitor has undertaken certain work as a matter of special urgency, that solicitor may still be paid for that work, provided certain conditions are met (regulation 18);

(b) proceedings before the Social Security Commissioners and the Child Support Commissioners are added to the list of distinct proceedings for the purposes of legal aid (regulation 4(k)); payments recovered or preserved in the course of such proceedings are discounted when calculating the amount of any net liability of the Legal Aid Fund on account of any party (regulation 33(a)(xi)); and civil legal aid will only be made available for such proceedings where it appears to the Board that any onward right of appeal would lie to the Court of Session (regulation 47);

(c) the amount of money, or the value of any property, recovered or preserved in certain matrimonial proceedings which is disregarded when calculating the amount of any net liability of the Legal Aid Fund on account of any party is increased from £2,500 to £4,200 (regulation 33(b));

(d) where a person submits an application for civil legal aid and then fails to provide the Board with information which it requests to allow it to reach a decision on that application, the Board may treat the application as having been abandoned (regulation 9(2));

(e) The Board may allow an extension of the 15 day period for submission of an application for review of its decision to refuse civil legal aid (regulation 20(1)(b)) and if such an application is not submitted timeously, the Board may treat that application as having been abandoned (regulation 19(5));

(f) solicitors and counsel will have a duty to inform the Board of any change to an assisted person’s personal circumstances, where they consider that that assisted person has not done so (regulation 23(2));

(g) where the Board has suspended the availability of civil legal aid for a period of 90 days, it may continue that suspension for one additional period of 90 days (regulation 29(2)(b)); and

(h) the Board may cease to make civil legal aid available where it is satisfied that there has been an error is assessing the merits of the application (regulation 31(b)).

In addition, the Regulations make a number of minor and technical changes to the 1996 Regulations as amended.