The Legal Services Commission has agreed to extend the family legal aid contracts for a month, as the Law Society won an application for an expedited hearing of its judicial review last week.

At a directions hearing at the High Court on Friday, the court granted the Law Society’s application for an expedited hearing of its legal challenge to the LSC’s family tender process.

The full hearing will take place on Tuesday 21 September. The judge ordered that the new contracts should not be issued pending the hearing of the case, although the LSC’s work on appeals and verification will continue.

The new contracts were due to begin on 14 October 2010, but the LSC has agreed to extend the current contracts for one month.

The Law Society and LSC are due to meet on Monday 6 September to sort out the practical details around the contract extension.