How to challenge legal aid decisions
If you disagree with a decision made by the Legal Services Agency, you can:
- ask the Agency to reconsider the decision, or
- apply to the Legal Aid Review Panel (LARP) for a review of the decision.
What kinds of decisions can I challenge?
The kinds of decisions you can challenge include, for example:
- a decision rejecting your application for legal aid
- a decision about the amount of legal aid you’re granted
- a decision about how much of your legal aid you must repay.
Getting the Legal Services Agency to reconsider
You need to tell the Agency why you want the decision to be reconsidered. Your legal aid lawyer can help you with this, or you can ask for a reconsideration by filling in Form 11which can be accessed here.
You should go to the same Agency office that you’ve been dealing with. But the person who reconsiders the issue won’t be the person who made the original decision. If you have any new information, please provide this with the reconsideration form.
It usually takes about 15 working days for the Agency to reconsider its decision.
Applying for a review by the Legal Aid Review Panel
What is the Legal Aid Review Panel?
The Legal Aid Review Panel is an independent panel that can review certain Agency decisions. The Panel Convenor and other members are appointed by the Attorney-General. Members are lawyers with experience in a range of legal areas and types of proceedings, and non-lawyers with relevant knowledge, experience, and skill.
On what grounds can I apply for a review to the Panel?
You or your lawyer can apply to the Legal Aid Review Panel for a review if you think:
- the decision was clearly unreasonable, or
- the decision didn’t follow the rules in the Legal Services Act 2000 and the Legal Services Regulations 2006.
You can appeal to the Panel whether or not you’ve already asked the Legal Services Agency to reconsider.
How do I apply to the Panel?
You must send your appeal to the Panel within 20 working days from the date you get the letter from the Agency telling you of its decision. But you can ask the Panel to consider a late application. For an application form, click here. Ask your nearest Agency office how to contact the Panel, or you can contact the Panel directly:
Legal Aid Review Panel
P.O. Box 33-837, |
Phone: (09) 489 1300 |
What happens at a Panel review?
The Panel won’t hold a hearing, which means you won’t be able to speak to the Panel in person. You can send it a written statement, along with any other documents and information you think are useful. But if you give the Panel any new information that the Agency hasn’t seen, the issue may be sent back to the Agency for a reconsideration.
The Panel may confirm, modify, or reverse the decision made by the Agency, or ask the Agency to reconsider its decision.
What if I’m not happy with the Panel’s decision?
You can appeal the Panel’s decision to the High Court if you think it got the law wrong, but not on any other ground.
