A former human rights lawyer who has denied four allegations of fraud will now have to wait almost two years for his trial, Southwark Crown Court heard.

Phil Shiner

Shiner denies four allegations of defrauding the Legal Aid Agency

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Phil Shiner, 65, was told his trial, which is expected to last eight weeks, is set for September 2024 after he pleaded not guilty to four charges.

The fraud charges relate to allegations that Shiner made legal aid claims in 2007 without disclosing to the Legal Aid Agency that his Birmingham-based firm, Public Interest Lawyers, had engaged in cold-calling clients in Iraq and information provided by Shiner to the Solicitors Regulation Authority in April 2015.

The upcoming trial follows the fall-out of the Al-Sweady inquiry which looked into allegations that British troops had killed civilians in Iraq in 2005. The inquiry cleared soldiers of the most serious allegations of unlawful killing but found there had been some mistreatment of detainees.

Following the inquiry, Shiner was struck off by the SRA in 2017 for 22 charges of professional misconduct.