legal aidAuthorised increase in expenditure limit on legal aid certificate not given effect - Legal Aid Board director requested to amend certificate on grounds of 'some mistake' - director to look at both form and substance of application to amendR v The Area Director of the Legal Aid Board, Ex parte Edwin Coe (a firm) and another: CA (Simon Brown, Judge and Tuckey LJJ):17 May 2000The first applicant, who was solicitor to the second applicant, applied to the Legal Aid Board to amend the second applicant's legal aid certificate.

The board refused.

The applicants applied for judicial review of that refusal.

The judge granted permission for judicial review.

The board appealed.Jonathan Harvie QC and Alan Maclean (instructed by Toni Smerdon, Legal Aid Board, Holborn) for the Legal Aid Board.

Andrew Hillier (instructed by Edwin Coe) for the applicants.Held, dismissing the appeal, that where the Legal Aid Board authorised an increase in the expenditure limit to enable particular work to be done and the legal aid certificate did not give effect to that authorisation, the board's area director could amend the certificate on the ground that there was 'some mistake' within it under reg.51(a) of the Civil Legal Aid (General) Regulations 1989 (SI 1989 No 339) to reflect that decision; that in deciding whether there was 'some mistake' in the certificate, the area director should look not merely at the form but also at the substance of the application which was made to the board; that in the present case it was plain the only reason the power in reg.51(a) had not been exercised was that the area director wrongly had directed himself that there was no mistake in the certificate issued; and that, accordingly, his decision was susceptible to judicial review.