Interim billing to take the squeeze off immigration lawyers

Interim legal aid billing should soon become a reality for immigration practitioners.

The Legal Aid Practitioners Group has been in 'productive' discussions with the Legal Services Commission (LSC) about interim billing, designed to ease cashflow problems for firms carrying high levels of disbursements.

An LSC spokeswoman confirmed the plans for interim billing, saying that it is 'waiting for comments from the Immigration Law Practitioners Association and the Law Society as to how it would be defined'.

Chris Randall of the Immigration Law Practitioners Association gave the proposal a cautious welcome.

'A measure that will prevent an unpleasant financial reconciliation process at the beginning of the next financial year has to be a good thing,' he said.

'But whether particular firms are in favour of staged billing will depend on their case profiles.'

Rowland Byass