New guidance is available providing additional information on the circumstances in which legal aid may be used to pay for judicial review permission applications.
The guidance has been developed with the Ministry of Justice following a recent legal challenge.
It aims to clarify how aspects of these judicial review legal aid rules are to be interpreted.
Two-stage permission process
The document sets out the application of the rules to the two-stage permission process for judicial review.
For example, under one of the rules the LAA has a discretion to pay for permission applications where the court has neither refused nor given permission.
The clarification confirms that this discretion can in principle be exercised in either of the following situations:
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application for judicial review concludes prior to the court making a determination on permission on the papers
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application moves beyond a refusal of permission on the papers but concludes before the court makes a further decision on permission at a hearing
It is recommended that all providers who undertake judicial reviews read this clarification.
Further information
Judicial review discretion pro forma – to download clarification document
Published 8 February 2019
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