.
An insurance policy for your legal aid contract.
Independent file review (
Specialist Quality Mark (SQM) Standard E2,
Lexcel England and Wales v6.1 Standard for Legal Practices 5.11) provides a method for checking whether caseworkers are providing good-quality legal advice as well as following all the Legal Aid Agency’s (LAA’s) rules. Common errors are inadequate evidence of means for controlled work and unacceptable evidence of abuse for family private law cases. The LAA has provided helpful guidance on how to avoid these:
File review also enables the supervisor to see if day-to-day supervision is pitched at the right level for each individual, and whether there are any training needs. It is a useful way of finding out whether supervision systems are working effectively.
Reading other people’s files is boring
The problem is that reading other people’s files can be boring, so is there any opportunity to change your procedure? Under SQM E2.1, file reviews must be done for each casework member of staff to whom cases have been allocated. You have to document and justify the number of files, frequency and method of review. The Lexcel requirements are similar. Since the long-superseded General Criminal Contract set the number and frequency of reviews as one file per qualified supervisor a month, and two for other competent staff, many organisations adopted this across all categories. Doing monthly file reviews has the advantage that the numbers audited are relatively small, so the task does not seem too daunting. However, some practices prefer quarterly intervals, particularly for more experienced lawyers who carry a smaller, more complex caseload, where one file reviewed a quarter could be justifiable.
The sample checked must be representative of the caseload, but apart from that, you can select the files in any way you like. You could, for example, complete a file review form every time someone comes to ask your advice on a case, rather than treating the exercise as a separate punitive chore. If corrective action is needed, don’t forget that it must be done within a reasonable time (with a backstop of 28 days in Lexcel) and signed off by the reviewer.
Share the load
If you are supervising a number of caseworkers, could you delegate elements of the file reviews (although the named supervisor has to demonstrate overall control)? Having more than one person who meets the supervisor standard is the ideal, but can be a challenge to afford. Alternatively, designating someone as a deputy supervisor (SQM D3.1) and delegating some activities can be a good opportunity for the person to gain experience, and you will get brownie points for demonstrating a proactive approach to training and development.
If you hate checking basic compliance issues such as whether a certain barrister is on your approved list, is there someone else who could do that for you? Many administrators and paralegals have a good eye for detail and could be asked to prepare the file for the reviewer. As long as you make sure they know what to look for, this could save you a lot of time to concentrate on the legal issues and tactical approach.
Legal expertise
A further consideration is peer review. There is a series of short, practical
Improving your quality guides
on the LAA’s website that provide clear guidance on what peer reviewers are looking for in a wide range of legal categories: crime; family; housing; immigration/asylum; and mental health. The LAA has also published the criteria that the peer reviewers use in the appendices to the
peer review process document, which reflect things that experienced supervisors look for intuitively:
•communication with the client;
•the advice; and
•work done or assistance provided.
Standing back and imagining yourself in the place of a lawyer who does not know the person involved can be a good way to approach the peer review challenge. Introducing a new perspective to file review could make your task more interesting and help you achieve a category 3 rating or above, required to keep your contract.
12018 Standard Civil Contract Standard Terms and 2022 Standard Crime Contract Standard Terms.This is Vicky Ling’s final practice management column after 16 years. She will continue to contribute articles about topics of interest to Legal Action readers on an occasional basis.