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
LALYs 2026
Nominations have launched for the Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year Awards 2026 Nominate your legal aid hero here Read our press release here When and where is the ceremony? 3rd July at Convene (155 Bishopsgate, Liverpool Street, London) from 6:30pm When do nominations close? Nominations close on the 21st April This Year’s Categories Legal… continue reading
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
LAPG Manifesto Reaches New Heights
Costs firm John M Hayes, great supporters of LAPG’s work over many years, recently climbed Mount Snowden to raise money for access to justice and the London Legal Support Trust. And on top of that, they lugged up copies of LAPG’s Manifesto for Legal Aid! An excellent effort by the JMH team! Read more about their… continue reading
Duncan Lewis wins access to justice challenge against LAA and Lord Chancellor
Duncan Lewis Solicitors have successfully challenged the Legal Aid Agency’s refusal to backdate legal aid certificates, even where solicitors have made a legal aid application as promptly as possible and it is necessary to begin work in order to secure access to justice for a client before the Legal Aid Agency has granted a certificate…. continue reading
LAPG Annual Conference and Dinner 2018 – Book Now!
Bookings are now open for the LAPG Annual Conference 2018 in London on 5 October 2018. Book your place here. The conference is packed full of useful content for practitioners, practice managers and all those interested in legal aid and access to justice. Download the flyer here for the full programme. The offline booking form is attached… continue reading
LAPG’s Director, Carol Storer, is stepping down
After 10 years, Carol Storer is stepping down as Director of the Legal Aid Practitioners Group on 20 November 2018. Under Carol’s excellent directorship LAPG has made a huge contribution as a representative body, despite the difficult economic climate. With skill, energy and dedication Carol has helped LAPG to support legal aid practitioners so that… continue reading
We’ve launched our 2017 Annual Review
On 26th April 2018 LAPG held a reception to launch its second Annual Review. Baroness Helena Kennedy QC spoke about the importance of legal aid work and the rule of law. She remembered once being asked if she was the barrister who represented ‘women and other criminals’. Co–chairs Jenny Beck and Nicola Mackintosh QC(Hon) referred… continue reading
(Another) busy day for LAPG
LAPG Director Carol Storer explains what LAPG staff and Committee members (who support us in their ‘spare time’) do on a typical day to fight for a more accessible and sustainable legal aid system. Direct engagement with the MOJ over the LASPO review and LAA over operational issues, appearing before parliamentary committees, organising the LALY awards, delivering training, supporting… continue reading
LALY awards 2018 has been launched!
We are delighted to announce that nominations are now open for the 2018 Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year awards. 12 categories feature this year, and for the first time we are recognising the vital contribution made by practice managers. Read the full press release here. The press release contains full details of the award… continue reading
It’s a great time to join or renew LAPG membership
With our new membership year commencing on the 1st of January 2018 now is the perfect time to renew your membership or join for the first time. Our members benefit from our advice, support, training, events and regular updates. But we also play a leading role in campaigning for a fairer and more accessible legal aid system. We… continue reading
LAA to roll out new Provider Activity Reports
The LAA will shortly roll out a new report to all legal aid contract holders setting out key information about contract performance. The LAA announcement about the new Provider Activity Report follows: Civil/crime news: rollout of contract performance reports ‘Provider Activity Reports’ (PARs) showing key contract data and highlighting performance against contractual requirements are to… continue reading
Bach Commission “The Right to Justice” Report out today
Over the last two years, LAPG co-chair Nicola Mackintosh QC (Hon), committee members Julie Bishop and Laura Janes and director Carol Storer have been sitting on the Bach Commission. We heard from more than 100 individuals and organisations. The commission has found that cuts to legal aid have created a two-tier justice system where the… continue reading