Legal Aid
The Scottish Legal Aid Board administers the supply of legal aid funding for solicitors in Scotland. Thorley Stephenson are proud to offer legal aid services to clients who qualify for legal aid on a financial basis and in cases where it is appropriate and reasonable that legal aid be made available. We wish to emphasise that there are complex rules concerning eligibility for legal aid but also rules regarding the administration of the system which may mean, even if you do qualify for legal aid on a financial basis, legal aid services are not in themselves offered by Thorley Stephenson. Alternatively, even if you do qualify and we act on a legal aid basis, you may face a requirement to repay funds to the Scottish Legal Aid Board if you succeed in your case. This would be fully explained as your case progressed.
The Scottish Legal Aid Board’s website is an excellent resource to allow members of the public to understand the complexities of legal aid eligibility and provision. The link to the Scottish Legal Aid Board’s “Getting Legal Help” page is undernoted and this linked page contains online legal aid eligibility calculators in order to assess whether you would qualify for legal aid.
Please remember that there are a number of different types of legal aid and the financial eligibility rules are different for each of these forms of legal aid. These types of legal aid include:
- advice and assistance (generally for cases which do not involve court action),
- civil legal aid (for civil court cases which do not involve certain steps being taken by the children’s reporter/social work department)
- “childrens” legal aid (legal aid for an adult in certain civil cases which do involve the children’s reporter/social work department)
- Criminal legal aid (legal aid for criminal court cases)
In addition, the linked legal aid board web page offers further links on to the Scottish Legal Aid Board’s helpful leaflets which explain in detail issues concerning the legal aid system in Scotland.
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