Advice and Assistance | Funding for advice short of representation in criminal cases, granted by the provider under contract with the LAA. | | |
CCMS | Client and Contract Management System – online portal to submit applications, amendments and claims to the LAA for civil and family licensed work. | | |
CMRF | Consolidated Matter Report Form, the monthly Civil Contract claim submitted to the LAA online. | | |
Community Legal Service | Holistic provision of civil legal advice and representation under the Access to Justice Act 1999. Concept and branding abolished under LASPO Act. | | |
Contract Compliance Audit | An audit assessing whether, based on a sample of files, an organisation is complying with the requirements of civil or criminal contracts. | | |
Contract Manager | Official of the LAA with responsibility for managing the contractual relationship between the two parties. | | |
Contract Manager Visit | See Financial Stewardship audit. | | |
Controlled Legal Representation | Representation before the Mental Health Review Tribunal, or in the Immigration Appellate Authority, granted by the provider under contract with the LAA. | | |
Contract Liaison Manager | A member of the organisation’s staff designated as the person responsible for quality and contract compliance and the main point of contact for the LAA. This role was previously known as the Quality Representative or Franchise Representative. | | |
Corrective Action | Action agreed with an LAA auditor to rectify a breach of a QM or contract requirement. | | |
Criminal Defence Service | Provision of Criminal defence advice and representation funded under the Access to Justice Act 1999. Concept and branding abolished under LASPO. | | |
Delegated Function | Delegated by the LAA’s Director of Casework to practitioners. See Devolved Power. | | |
Devolved Power | A power (eg to grant a Representation Certificate) that could be exercised on the LSC’s behalf by the provider in certain defined circumstances.Known as a ‘delegated function’ under LASPO. | | |
Escape fee case | Case which would normally be paid by way of fixed fee; but which escapes because the time and item value exceeds a set ratio (the exact ratios differ depending on the scheme). | | |
Exceptional and Complex Cases Unit | Department of the LAA, dealing with individual case contracts in high cost civil cases. | | |
Exceptional case | Previous name under the Access to Justice Act 1999 for an escape fee case. See also below. | | |
Exceptional case funding | Case which would normally be outside the scope of LASPO, but is eligible for funding under section 10, because failure to do so would breach the client’s human rights (or would be likely to do so). | | |
Financial Stewardship audit | Type of audit conducted by a Contract Manager on a provider’s premises, focussing on financial issues. Also referred to as ‘Contract Manager Visit’ from 2011. | | |
Franchise Representative | See Contract Liaison Manager. | | |
Funding Code | The criteria by which the LAA decided whether to grant all levels of civil funding under the Access to Justice Act 1999. Preserved only for cases existing as at 31 March 2013. | | |
Help at Court | An adjunct to Legal Help, which allows representation at particular hearings in defined cases. | | |
Individual Case Contract | A separate contract between the LAA and a provider on a particular case, usually because of high costs. | | |
Inter partes costs | Costs agreed between the parties when cases are settled between them rather than by Court Order. The rates are higher than Legal Aid rates. | | |
Legal Aid | Legal advice and representation funded by the central government through the LAA and the Courts. | | |
Legal Help | Advice short of representation, granted by the provider under contract with the LAA | | |
Licensed Work | Civil representation certificates – funding granted by the LAA or under delegated functions by providers. | | |
Matter Start | Also known as a ‘new matter start’ or NMS, a Matter start is a case started under Legal Help, Help with Mediation or Controlled Legal Representation and Family Help Lower (Public Law) where there has been no previous Legal Help. | | |
McKenzie Adviser | A person who is present at a hearing to advise and assist, but not represent, a party. | | |
Operational Assurance | Department of the LAA, which carries out data analysis and audits to support Contract Managers. Previously known as Provider Assurance. | | |
Prior Authority | A certificate that the LAA considers a disbursement to be reasonable, and therefore that the costs will be paid at the end of the case. May also allow a payment on account. | | |
Peer review | An assessment of the quality of legal work carried out by independent lawyers working under contract with the LAA. | | |
Pro bono | Free legal advice and/or representation. | | |
Procurement area | Geographical area covered by a contract with the LAA, usually based on a top tier local authority area. | | |
Provider | Term used by the LAA to describe any type of organisation with which it has a contract to deliver services. | | |
Public Defender Service | Solicitors employed by the LAA to do criminal work, in competition with private practice. Four offices in England and Wales. | | |
Quality Concern | A failure to meet a requirement of a Quality Mark. Critical Concerns are more serious than General Concerns. The organisation will be required to put corrective action in place, or in particularly serious cases, will be at risk of contract termination. | | |
Quality Mark | An accreditation scheme regulating conduct and quality of legal services. Providers of legal services must hold a Specialist Quality Mark (awarded by the LAA) or Lexcel (awarded by the Law Society) in order to be eligible to hold a contract. Providers of mediation must hold the Mediation Quality Mark. Compliance may be audited by the LAA or their authorised contractor, Recognising Excellence (from April 2017). | | |
Quality Representative | See Contract Liaison Manager. | | |
Regional Office | Historically, an office of the LAA dealing with all funding and local policy matters within its region. Following restructuring, Regional offices act as a base for staff and may have some processing functions. | | |
Representation Certificate | Funding for representation in civil and family cases, granted by the LAA or in emergencies by the provider. | | |
Representation Order | Funding for representation in criminal cases, granted by the courts. | | |
Schedule payment limit | The total amount payable to an organisation under a contract. | | |
Special Cases Unit | Former name. See Exceptional and Complex Cases Unit. | | |
Specialist Quality Mark | See Quality Mark. | | |
Standard monthly payment | The monthly payment to an organisation under contract – usually one twelfth of the schedule payment limit (subject to variation during the year). See also variable monthly payment. | | |
Statutory Charge | A charge held by the LAA over property recovered or preserved in funded civil proceedings, intended to allow the LAA to recover the costs of funding the case. | | |
Tolerance work | A case taken on by an organisation in a category in which it did not have a QM or contract, under Access to Justice Act 1999 provisions. These were abolished under LASPO, so that you must have schedule authorisation for any work you undertake. | | |
Transaction Criteria | An audit tool, consisting of checklists used to assess whether a file contained required information from the early days of ‘franchising’. Superseded by peer review. | | |
Variable monthly payment | An alternative to the standard monthly payment to an organisation under contract, paid to the value of claims submitted. | | |
Very High Cost Cases Panel | A panel of organisations accredited by the LAA to conduct VHCC crime cases. Only accredited organisations may do these cases. | | |