Legal aid firms ‘operating on the narrowest of margins’ are having to risk working for free or decline to take on new work as the Legal Aid Agency tries to recover from a cyber attack, the Gazette has learned – as five regional law societies demand more information and support from the LAA.

The Ministry of Justice had to take the LAA Online Portal down after it emerged that a cyber attack on the LAA’s digital services last month was worse than it first thought. The online portal will remain offline until a replacement service is in place, which could take weeks.

Solicitors with crime applications have been told that once the portal becomes available, their representation orders will be backdated. However, one solicitor told the Gazette that there is no guarantee a client would pass the interests of justice or financial eligibility tests. Their firm is having to decline to act in 'borderline' cases.

But while firms lack a cast-iron guarantee that they will get legal aid funding for new applications, the LAA has said legal aid contributions from applicants will ‘continue as normal’. 

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Meanwhile, the Joint V Law Societies – Bristol, Birmingham, Leeds Liverpool and Manchester – have written to the LAA with five key demands. The Joint V want the LAA to urgently update solicitors with clear guidance on contingency arrangements for making legal aid applications, submitting bills, and applying for payments on account and interim payments.

The Joint V also want the LAA to be fully transparent about the nature and extent of the data breach and engage ‘meaningfully’ with solicitor to understand the operational and financial consequences of the disruption, and ensure appropriate mitigation and support.

‘For firms already working on the narrowest of margins, this interruption in work, and possibly in income places them at real risk of financial instability. These are firms whose commitment to access to justice sustains entire communities – their survival cannot be taken for granted,’ the Joint V said.