LAPG Conference in-person 9^th November 2023 at University College London

The LAPG Annual Conference took place in-person this year at University College London. There was a mix of plenary sessions and workshops, with policy, campaigning and operational matters under the microscope.

Representatives from the Legal Aid Agency attended the conference and be available throughout the day to discuss delegates’ questions about applications, billing and high cost cases.

These were all the workshops that took place:

• Managing Remotely and Hybrid Working – what gets your vote? – Matthew Howgate (Consultant) and Vicky Ling (Consultant)
• Family Law Update 1 (Private) – Jenny Beck KC (Hon) (Director, Beck Fitzgerald) and Lucy Verity (Director, Philcox Gray).
• Means Test Update – Eve McNally (Legal Aid Agency). Jim Peake (Lead Means Assessor, Legal Aid Agency), Kate Pasfield (Director of Legal Aid Policy, LAPG) and Madeleine van Oss (Means Test Review Policy Lead, Ministry of Justice)
• A Career in Legal Aid – Run by YLAL. Panel includes: Isaac Abraham (Solicitor, Wilson Solicitors LLP), Ife Kubler-Agyemang (Barrister, Doughty Street Chambers), Kauser Fadal (Trainee Solicitor, Wilson Solicitors LLP) and Marie Paris (Barrister, Doughty Street Chambers)
• Managing Legal Aid Contracts: Including changes for the Standard Civil Contract 2024 – Matthew Howgate and Vicky Ling
• Issues around Vulnerability and Capacity – Dr Laura Janes (Consultant Solicitor, Scott-Moncrieff & Associates Ltd and GT Stewart Solicitors & Advocates) and Diane Astin (Solicitor and Senior Lecturer in Legal Practice, Brunel University)
• Maximising Costs / Minimising Loss – back to basics focusing on the Costs Assessment Guidance and maximising recovery – Shaun Williams (South West and Wales Deputy Regional Manager, The John M Hayes Partnership Limited) and David Disney (CEO Costs Lawyer, The John M Hayes Partnership Limited)
• Family Law Update 2 (Public) – Jenny Beck KC (Hon), Lucy Verity
• Immigration and Asylum – strategies to survive the legal aid crisis – Jawaid Luqmani (Partner, Luqmani Thompson), Matthew Davies (Deputy Managing Partner, Wilson Solicitors LLP), Mala Savjani (Solicitor, Wilson Solicitors LLP and Here for Good), Brian Dikoff (Legal Organiser at Migrants Organise) and Madeleine Kelleher (Solicitor, Southwark Law Centre)
• Housing Update – Rosaleen Kilbane (Director, The Community Law Partnership) and Simon Mullings (Housing Team Leader Hammersmith and Fulham Law Centre and co-chair HLPA)
• Crime Update and Prison Law Updates – Speakers include Daniel Bonich (Partner at Clarke Kiernan LLP, Chair CLSA (Criminal Law Solicitors’ Association) ), Dr Laura Janes, Andrew Sperling (Managing Director, SL5 Legal) and Fadi Daoud (Extradition and Crime Partner at Lawrence & Co Solicitors, President of the LCCSA)
• Family and CoP HCCPs – Jenny Beck KC (Hon), Laura Bennett (Associate and Regional Manager, The John M Hayes Partnership Limited) and Nicola Mackintosh KC (Hon)

Additionally, we hosted two plenaries:

• Overview of Policy and Civil Legal Aid, including Review of Civil Legal Aid (RoCLA) – Panel: Richard Miller (Head of Justice at The Law Society) and Chris Minnoch (CEO, Legal Aid Practitioners Group)
• + Karen Buck MP Westminster North (Co-Chair of the APPG on Access to Justice) in a Q & A with Ro Jana, Head of Parliamentary Affairs (LAPG)
• How can the next government ensure there is access to justice? A panel of speakers will put forward their top two asks of the next government. Delegates will vote on their top asks.

Many of the workshops counted as relevant training to be included on training records and considered annually when certifying competence (i.e. formerly counting as CPD)