Release is looking for a Supervising Solicitor (Community Care)
Release is seeking to appoint a Supervising Solicitor for Community Care — with genuine flexibility for part‑time or full‑time working — to help shape and expand their legal services at the intersection of social justice and community care law, and harm reduction. The Supervising Solicitor (Community Care) – Legal Aid is a key role in shaping and strengthening Release’s legal… continue reading
Osbornes Law is looking for a Housing Solicitor
Osbornes Law is recruiting for a full-time solicitor with experience in housing law to join their expanding and award-winning Housing and Social Care team. Experience in community care and public law would also be desirable, but not essential. The role will provide an exciting opportunity for the successful solicitor to handle a diverse caseload. Osbornes… continue reading
Coram is looking for a Solicitor / Senior Solicitor (Education Law)
Coram is recruiting up to two solicitors/ senior solicitors specialising in education law to work within their Education Law team. They are looking for committed, passionate and experienced education solicitors who are able to provide high quality and empathetic legal advice, assistance and representation to families and young people. The successful candidate will be able… continue reading
Shelter is looking for a Managing Solicitor (Sheffield)
Shelter is recruiting a Housing managing solicitor. You will ensure you and your team will deliver high quality legal services and manage their Legal Aid Contract, with your main focus being on your own caseload and to manage and supervise the legal teams who are advocating for clients with housing issues, as well as bringing… continue reading
North West London Law Centres are looking for a Housing Solicitor
North West London Law Centres are recruiting a Housing solicitor. The key tasks will be: to provide specialist casework and representation in housing law; to ensure compliance with Legal Aid Agency contract and funding requirements; to be familiar with SRA requirements; to attend the housing duty rota; and to provide outreach advice. North West London… continue reading
Shelter is looking for a Managing Solicitor (Birmingham and Bristol)
Shelter is recruiting a Managing Solicitor. The Managing Solicitor plays a crucial high-quality assurance role in their Legal Services based in Shelter Hubs locations with Legal Aid Agency contracts. The prime objective is to manage and supervise specialist legal team(s) focused on advising and advocating for people experiencing the housing emergency and to tackle housing… continue reading
LAPG Response to the Consultation on Creating an ‘Interest on Lawyers’ Client Account’ Scheme
We have published our response to the government’s ILCA consultation, setting out our significant concerns with both the proposed scheme and the consultation process itself. It is our belief that the scheme as proposed is unfit for purpose, lacking both a clear mandate for its implementation, and robust evidence to support it. The consultation fails… continue reading
Shelter is looking for a Housing Solicitor (Rochdale)
Shelter is recruiting a Housing Solicitor in their mission to drive systemic change and fight for Justice. Based in with one of their partner organisations in Rochdale, you will ensure you deliver high-quality legal services through casework and ensuring Legal Aid contract requirements and performance targets are met. You will be able to identify test… continue reading
Shelter is looking for a Housing Solicitor (Doncaster)
Shelter is recruiting a Housing solicitor in their mission to drive systemic change and fight for Justice. Based in with their partner organisation, Housing for Young People in Doncaster, you will ensure you deliver high quality legal services through casework and ensuring Legal Aid contract requirements and performance targets are met. You will be able… continue reading
PAMELA Network
Peri-Menopausal and Menopausal Legal Aid Support Network
PAMELA SOCIAL – Vagina Museum
We are delighted to confirm that we will be having a social at the Vagina Museum (near Bethnal Green tube) from 6 to late on Thursday 19 March 2026. The event is kindly sponsored and co-hosted by the London Criminal Courts Solicitors Association (LCCSA) and Legal Aid Practitioners Group (LAGP). The Vagina Museum is a… continue reading
LAPG Online Supervision Course – 22nd January 2026
Event Details For new LAA Supervisors or those wishing to refresh their supervisory skills. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS SESSION IS BEING DELIVERED ONLINE. JOINING INSTRUCTIONS WILL BE SENT SEPARATELY VIA EMAIL – DO NOT ACCESS THE COURSE USING EVENTBRITE. If you have any questions please email Andrea at andrea.shumaker@lapg.co.uk This course will have built in breaks as… continue reading
LAPG Online Supervision Course – 19th November 2026
For new LAA Supervisors or those wishing to refresh their supervisory skills. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS SESSION IS BEING DELIVERED ONLINE. JOINING INSTRUCTIONS WILL BE SENT SEPARATELY VIA EMAIL – DO NOT ACCESS THE COURSE USING EVENTBRITE. If you have any questions please email Andrea at andrea.shumaker@lapg.co.uk This course will have built in breaks as well as… continue reading
LAPG Online Supervision Course – 24th September 2026
For new LAA Supervisors or those wishing to refresh their supervisory skills. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS SESSION IS BEING DELIVERED ONLINE. JOINING INSTRUCTIONS WILL BE SENT SEPARATELY VIA EMAIL – DO NOT ACCESS THE COURSE USING EVENTBRITE. If you have any questions please email Andrea at andrea.shumaker@lapg.co.uk This course will have built in breaks as well as… continue reading
LAPG Online Supervision Course – 11th June 2026
For new LAA Supervisors or those wishing to refresh their supervisory skills. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS SESSION IS BEING DELIVERED ONLINE. JOINING INSTRUCTIONS WILL BE SENT SEPARATELY VIA EMAIL – DO NOT ACCESS THE COURSE USING EVENTBRITE. If you have any questions please email Andrea at andrea.shumaker@lapg.co.uk This course will have built in breaks as well as… continue reading
LAPG Online Supervision Course – 26th March 2026
For new LAA Supervisors or those wishing to refresh their supervisory skills. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS SESSION IS BEING DELIVERED ONLINE. JOINING INSTRUCTIONS WILL BE SENT SEPARATELY VIA EMAIL – DO NOT ACCESS THE COURSE USING EVENTBRITE. If you have any questions please email Andrea at andrea.shumaker@lapg.co.uk This course will have built in breaks as well as… continue reading
Our History
A Brief History of LAPG Carol Storer OBE, LAPG Director from 2008–2018, has been thumbing through the LAPG archives and will be helping us to publish a detailed online history of LAPG later this year. In the meantime, Carol has sampled some pithy comments from the early years: – Legal aid practitioners will look back… continue reading
LAPG Conference 2025
Monday 20th October 2025
Training Discounts
Current Coupon Codes
Parliamentary Engagement
The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Access to Justice
LAPG Conference 2024
The LAPG Annual Conference took place on Friday, 8th of November 2024 at Herbert Smith Freehills.
People Management: Building & Managing Your Team – 7th & 14th Oct.
Each session runs online from 10am to 4pm with breaks and is accompanied by a full set of written materials. This course is perfectly pitched at new managers (and potential managers) working in private practice but is a great reminder session for those who have been managing for some time. Please note that you will… continue reading
Home
LAPG is a membership body representing legal aid practitioners in England and Wales and the clients they serve. We believe that access to justice is a fundamental right and as such we campaign for a fair, comprehensive and accessible legal aid scheme. We work closely with other representative bodies to raise awareness about the importance… continue reading
LAPG supports the PAMELA initiative
What is PAMELA?PAMELA is a new support network focused on the implications of the (peri)menopause for legal aid lawyers and the advice sector. The network will provide opportunities for sharing resources and ideas including policies, practices and information, as well as a regular space for women to connect. The network will create both physical and… continue reading
Getting to know the LAPG Team – Ariana Jahromi
Policy and Parliamentary Affairs Researcher What do you do? I read, then search, then re-search, then research, then finally write something. What is the best bit of the job? Not to sound sappy, but the energy of this specific team and the constant motion genuinely inspires me. The office banter is A grade too. Quick… continue reading
LAPG submits its response to the MOJ RoCLA Call for Evidence
On 21 February 2024 we submitted our response to the Ministry of Justice’s Review of Civil Legal Aid Call for Evidence. Our response provides a detailed explanation of the myriad issues undermining the ability of legal aid practitioners to meet the needs of clients. In particular, we focused on the following key, overarching issues: There… continue reading
Death and downsizing by Carol Storer
Although the obvious subject for a blog for the LAPG website is a world-weary critique of legal aid and the lack of interest or indeed the outright hostility of the government, I thought a more practical blog would be better. Slightly therapeutic for me but hopefully a few tips that are useful. Do put in… continue reading
Getting to know LAPG’s Co-Chair – Jenny Beck KC (Hon)
Director of Beck Fitzgerald. Running niche family law firm with 25 full time staff whilst managing a small but complex caseload and actively campaigning for improvements to the family justice system LAPG role: Co-Chair What does this involve? Active engagement in all 3 arms of our work. Policy and influencing– attending meetings, drafting campaign… continue reading
Judicial Review – even when permission is refused on papers, you can always claim something! by Paul Seddon (Seddon Costs Law)
I recently received a solicitor’s instruction to prepare a claim for costs on judicial review. The solicitor mentioned that there was another JR for the same client but she understood that nothing could be claimed because permission was refused. But this isn’t the case, at the very least you can claim the issue fee and… continue reading
Getting to know the LAPG Team – Thomas Rigard-Asquith
Thomas Rigard-Asquith, double-barrelled for equality. Half my job consists in running the Management & Leadership Programme under Matt Howgate and Vicky Ling’s strict authority. Andrea Shumaker used to run this before me, so I’ve got big shoes to fill. On a day-to-day basis, this means making sure everyone is attending sessions, has the relevant materials,… continue reading
Getting to know the LAPG Team – Andrea Shumaker
Andrea Shumaker As the Learning & Development Co-Ordinator, I am responsible for running, improving, and expanding LAPGs training offerings. What do you do? Any and everything training! If you’ve taken our Legal Aid Supervision Course, Introduction to Civil Legal Aid Course, or any session of the Certificate in Practice Management Course in the last year… continue reading
Getting to know the LAPG Team – Anna Neira Quesada
Hello hello! My complete name is Anna Neira Quesada. To those of you who are wondering, no, Neira is not my middle name. One of the perks of being Spanish is that I get to have two surnames, my dad’s going first (Neira) and then my mum’s (Quesada). Revolutionary feminists, but not that much. I’m… continue reading
Getting to know the LAPG Team – Rohini Teather
Rohini Teather. Head of Parliamentary Affairs, or rather I drink tea and coffee with MPs in Big Ben as my daughter used to say. Which is more or less an accurate idea of the role. Part of my role is running the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Legal Aid which conducts independent research on Access to… continue reading
LAPG Announces Winners of the 2022 LALY Awards
Legal Aid Practitioners Group announces winners of 2022 Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year awards at first in-person ceremony since 2019. ‘Revered’ housing barrister; solicitor acting in Colston 4 case; and lawyer specialising in ‘Kafkaesque’ Special Immigration Appeals Commission work honoured by LALY judges. Campaign group Young Legal Aid Lawyers and Marcia Willis Stewart QC… continue reading
LAPG publishes response to MOJ consultation on the future of housing possession duty schemes
We have today published our response to the Ministry of Justice’s consultation: Housing Legal Aid: the way forward – A consultation on the future of the Housing Possession Court Duty Scheme. In our response we acknowledge the positive and constructive concepts mooted by the MOJ to improve both the long-term viability of duty schemes and… continue reading
Housing Possession Court Duty Schemes – LAPG response to the LAA’s consultation
The government is set to lift the stay on housing possession cases on 23 August 2020. Many have voiced considerable concern about the potential flood of evictions that will arise once court proceedings resume due to the economic impact of the pandemic. The MoJ and HMCTS have been working closely with legal aid providers and… continue reading
LAPG makes four special awards, to honour the ‘social justice heroes of the pandemic’
‘We are proud to recognise colleagues whose decisive actions at the start of the outbreak and since have helped save many lives,’ says LAPG CEO Chris Minnoch. Three individuals and one organisation are being recognised by LAPG during this uniquely challenging year (further details about each winner, below): – Richard Atkinson, partner at Tuckers Solicitors,… continue reading
LAPG Response to the LAA Consultation: Payments on Account
This consultation was launched by the LAA on 2 June 2020 and followed intervention by LAPG and other bodies requesting more flexibility over the POA system and other forms of interim or staged payment mechanisms to alleviate cash flow concerns for legal aid providers. The LAA has proposed an amendment to the Costs Assessment Guidance… continue reading
LAPG Response to the LAA Consultation: Amendments to the Cost Assessment Guidance (to Facilitate LAA Assessment of all Civil Bills)
The COVID-19 crisis has had a significant impact on the functioning of the court system, with all courts initially closing and then a partial and gradual resumption of hearings in different geographic and practice areas. Over the past few months, some have re-opened but with limited capacity to manage the backlog of cases. One consequence… continue reading
LAPG COVID-19 Email Support Service – FAQs Edition 1 (25 May 2020)
We have released the first set of FAQs submitted to our COVID-19 email support service. The FAQ document has been designed as a resource for legal aid practitioners to keep up to date with and understand the practical application of the many measures that have been introduced or relaxed in response to the crisis. This… continue reading
Latest LAPG Member Update (11 of 2020)
During these unprecedented and worrying times we are publishing some of our Member Updates as and when they contain information of general use to the sector. Update 11 of 2020 covers: LAPG requests urgent financial relief for providers from the LAA New LAPG Covid-19 helpline for legal aid providers to start imminently DG Legal FAQs… continue reading
LAPG is seeking new members for our Advisory Committee
We’re recruiting new members to our Advisory Committee of committed and expert legal aid practitioners and practice managers. The Advisory Committee supports our Board and staff team to: Set our strategy and objectives; Carry out policy and campaigning work; Engage with Government and respond to consultations and other issues; Answer queries from our Members; Organise… continue reading
LALY awards 2020 launched!
The 2020 Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year awards have opened for nominations! We are now accepting nominations for this year’s LALY awards. Read the official press release here, which provides details of the three new award categories. This year’s award ceremony takes place in central London on 7 July 2020. Ticket for the ceremony… continue reading
LAPG’s response to the HPCDS consultation
Read LAPG’s response to the Ministry of Justice consultation: ‘Housing Possession Court Duty Scheme: Towards a More Sustainable Service’ We broadly support the proposals, but raise concerns about the need for and impact of price competitive tendering on travel costs (while noting that paying travel costs is a welcome proposal) and wider concerns about court… continue reading
LAPG Membership for 2020
Join now and save on our Early Bird offer It’s time for LAPG Members to renew their membership for 2020. Our membership period is annual and starts on 1 January 2020. We’re currently running an Early Bird offer, with significant discounts across all of our membership tiers. It has been another incredibly busy year for… continue reading
Is there a ‘culture of refusal’ within the LAA? We need your views
In recent weeks we have been working with a group of experienced legal aid lawyers to try to get a better understanding of what appears to be a growing and pressing problem: the apparent ‘culture of refusal’ within the LAA. We have agreed that to gauge the extent of this issue we need a broader… continue reading
Notice of LAPG’s AGM – 3 October 2019 in Birmingham
All LAPG Members are cordially invited to attend our Annual General Meeting: Thursday, 3 October 2019 5.00-6.00pm Conference Aston, Aston University, Birmingham B4 7ET This year’s AGM marks a significant milestone in LAPG’s development. Following a comprehensive governance review we are seeking to create new and strengthen existing governance processes. We will be asking members to pass… continue reading
MOJ Publishes the LASPO Post-Implementation Review – Does It Go Far Enough?
Press Release Ministry of Justice’s Post-Implementation Review of Part 1 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO) The report is an overdue recognition of the crisis in access to justice, triggered by LASPO. Many of the recommendations for the future are positive, but much more is needed to remedy the… continue reading