.
The fallout from the
collapse of the Immigration Advisory Service continues. There was an
excellent piece in the Guardian this week, pointing out the human cost of the loss of IAS and the wider cuts facing immigration legal aid. Following previous announcements about re-allocation of
urgent cases and
unused matter starts, the LSC have given an
update on progress, promising news on tenders next week. Criminal duty solicitor rotas for the period July to January have now been
posted on the LSC website (a mere month after they started), and the LSC has also
confirmed that their Chester office will no longer accept criminal bills. CDS4 and 5 forms should be sent to Nottingham, CDS7s to Nottingham or Liverpool, and CDS4as to Liverpool. CDS4, 4a, 5 and 7 forms, as well as civil POA1s, can now also be submitted electronically following the roll-out of the LSC's e-forms initiative. Details on how to sign up can be found
here. The LSC argues that the process is quicker and more efficient, and leads to faster payments, than using paper forms. Also this week, we have posted separately on
extension of JR devolved powers and
new crime forms. See also
here for an important case on costs. Finally, ITV's Tonight programme next week will be called "What Price Justice?", investigating the impact of the legal aid bill. We understand the focus will be on clinical negligence, but other areas of legal aid will be covered as well. The programme will be broadcast on Thursday 11th August at 7.30pm on ITV1.