The UK’s largest not-for-profit social welfare law firm has blamed legal aid cuts and the ‘burden’ of the Legal Services Commission’s bureaucracy for its demise.
Law For All, which advised 15,000 clients a year in three London boroughs, East Anglia and the Midlands, went into administration yesterday.
In a statement posted on its website, the trustees said: ‘Recent years have proved extremely difficult as changes to the administration of publicly funded legal work have resulted in an unsustainable administrative burden, together with an increasingly complicated funding mechanism – not to mention reduced payments in real terms.
‘These factors, combined with current plans by the government to cut legal aid payments by a further 10% this autumn, and to almost completely end legal aid in October 2012, have led the trustees, reluctantly, to conclude that there is no hope of a viable long-term future for Law For All.’
Antony Batty & Co in London were appointed as administrators after being contacted by the firm’s trustees.
Lead administrator Stephen Evans told the Gazette: ‘We’ve had to close all the offices for new business, but have retained a number of staff to deal with open cases and urgent matters.’
He said they were in talks with the LSC and others suppliers to deal with the rest of the cases.
Evans was not able to give an indication of the number of cases that were open or the liabilities of Law For All at this stage.
A Legal Services Commission spokesman said: ‘We have been working with Law for All regarding operational issues for several months to see if they could continue. They have clearly taken the view that they cannot, but did not advise us of this before going into administration.
‘Our priority now is to work closely with the Law for All administrators to ensure clients continue to get the help they need, whilst safeguarding public money.’
He added: ‘We are disappointed that Law for All did not inform us of its plans to enter administration, as we could have taken steps earlier to ensure their clients continue to get advice.’
Law For All is a registered charity that was established in 1994. It received funding from the LSC, the London Borough of Ealing and other groups and individuals, including City firm Clifford Chance.
Last year Clifford Chance pledged over £1m over the next five years to support Law For All, as one of the firm’s key pro bono partners.
The City firm sent five full-time equivalent trainees on secondments to Law For All each year to deliver frontline advice services and pro bono advice.
Carol Storer, Director of the Legal Aid Practitioners Group, said: ‘It is deeply upsetting that Law for All has gone into administration. This was an innovative organisation with charitable status and financial and other support from Clifford Chance.
‘If this organisation could not survive, that will make many other providers look again at their plans for the future and re-assess if they can afford to continue with low rates, increased bureaucracy and endless uncertainty.’
Law for All’s move into administration follows the collapse of the Immigration Advisory Service earlier this month, and of charity Refugee and Migrant Justice last year.
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