Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations make provision for the administration of civil legal aid in Scotland following the coming into force on 1st April 1987 of the main provisions of the Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 1986. The Act, among other things, transferred to the Scottish Legal Aid Board from the Law Society of Scotland responsibility for granting civil legal aid, and from the Scottish Home and Health Department responsibility for assessing financial eligibility for civil legal aid. The Regulations supersede in relation to applications for civil legal aid granted on or after 1st April 1987 the Legal Aid (Scotland) Regulations 1960 as amended, and related Regulations, and the Legal Aid (Scotland) (Assessment of Resources) Regulations 1980, which are revoked; and the Legal Aid (Scotland) Scheme 1958.

The Regulations make provision as to:–

(i)

what are to be treated as distinct proceedings for the purposes of civil legal aid (regulation 4);

(ii)

the procedure for applications for civil legal aid, (regulations 5 to 9);

(iii)

the assessment by the Board of the applicant’s financial resources (regulations 10 to 15 and Schedules 2 and 3);

(iv)

applications in matters of special urgency (regulation 18);

(v)

the Board’s procedure on determining an application and the applicant’s right to apply to the Board for a review of such a decision (regulations 16, 17, 19 and 20);

(vi)

the need for prior approval by the Board for the employment of counsel and expert witnesses and for the execution of diligence (regulations 21 and 22);

(vii)

the duty of an applicant or assisted person to inform the Board of any change in circumstances (regulation 23);

(viii)

the duty of an assisted person’s solicitor or counsel to inform the Board of a suspected abuse of civil legal aid (regulation 24);

(ix)

the duty of an assisted person’s solicitor to inform the Board of his withdrawal from a case, or the conclusion and outcome of assisted proceedings, and the requirement for the Board to approve a change of solicitor by the assisted person (regulations 25 and 26);

(x)

the Board’s power to modify or terminate a grant of civil legal aid, and its right in certain circumstances to recover amounts already paid from the Scottish Legal Aid Fund (regulations 27 to 31);

(xi)

exceptions to the Board’s right to recover money due to the Fund from property recovered or preserved for an assisted person (regulation 32);

(xii)

liability for expenses (regulations 33 to 38);

(xiii)

arrangements for recovery of sums which are due to the Fund from property recovered or preserved or awards of expenses, including the taking out by the Board of charging orders on heritable property recovered or preserved and the interest payable on such orders when recovery is postponed (regulations 39 to 42 and Schedule 4); and

(xiv)

applications for civil legal aid for appeals to the House of Lords, proceedings in the Restrictive Practices Court or the Employment Appeal Tribunal, or under certain international conventions (regulations 43 to 47).