Spectacular breach of trust : Gambling addict embezzled £223,000 from legal firm pressandjournal.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from pressandjournal.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The lack of payments from the Scottish Government resilience fund resulted in solicitors downing tools at courts across Scotland Legal aid solicitors will meet with the Scottish Government later this week to discuss options to improve a controversial Coronavirus fund which has seen just a third of the money pledged by ministers paid out to struggling firms. The resilience fund, set up to help legal aid lawyers cope financially following the downturn in court work over the last year, has paid out just £2.3 million of its £9m. The lack of payment to firms has sparked widespread anger among the profession, resulting in protest action at courts throughout Scotland last Monday.
By Monidipa Fouzder2021-05-25T13:32:00+01:00
The Scottish Government could bring forward a planned 5% fee increase for legal aid solicitors – as beleaguered colleagues in England and Wales face a lengthy wait to see if their remuneration will rise.
Holyrood is seeking views from the Law Society of Scotland’s legal aid team, newly created activist group
Scottish Solicitors Bar Association and other bar associations on options to allocate remaining funds from a Covid-19 resilience pot. Only £2.3m has been distributed from the £9m fund, which closed in March, prompting criminal defence practitioners to
boycott custody courts last week.
In a discussion paper, the Scottish Government says it is open to considering the most effective and appropriate way to allocate the remaining funds, presenting two options. However, it also presents a third option: to bring forward a planned 5% fee increase.
An activist group of lawyers has emerged in Scotland seeking to pile pressure on Holyrood to provide urgent support to legal aid solicitors.
The newly formed Scottish Solicitors Bar Association came to prominence this month when it posted a statement on Twitter, accusing the Scottish government of failing to properly distribute a Covid-19 resilience fund.
The association announced that practitioners across Scotland would take part in a one-day custody court boycott, which took place last Monday.
Solicitor Julia McPartlin, president of the association, told the Gazette that the decision to boycott was one for individual local faculties. The association’s role was to facilitate communications.