LSC challenged over public interest panel

The Legal Services Commission (LSC) came under fire this week over the way it hands out money for public interest cases, with solicitors questioning its behaviour and a law firm threatening it with court action.

The trouble began after a client of Sheffield firm Howells was refused legal aid for a judicial review of the Police Complaints Authority.

Howells was set to argue that laws forbidding the authority from disclosing evidence fall foul of the Human Rights Act 1998.

The LSCs public interest advisory panel created to help ensure that cases with public interest issues get to court said there was a significant element of public interest at stake, and recommended that the LSC fund the case.But this was later dismissed by the LSCs Leeds area funding office on the grounds that a private-paying client would not have funded such a case.

Howells partner Peter Mahy said the test applied was too strict and slated the LSC for ignoring the panels recommendations.

The public interest panel is supposed to be an important body giving an expert opinion on cases which should be brought for the public good, he argued.

The decision-making of the Leeds office is bewildering.

If a sensible decision was not reached, Howells would seek a judicial review of the LSC, he added.

An LSC spokeswoman said the panels function was to advise and not to determine whether funding should be given.

She added: There is no question of us ignoring or overruling the panels decision.

However, she conceded that the original funding review committee decision in this particular case was questionable and that the case had been referred to another review.

A Law Society spokeswoman suggested that the panel should be given the ultimate say in whether cases are funded.

It is made up of experienced experts and the commission should give due weight to their views, she said.

If they made a strong recommendation that the case should be funded, it is disappointing that it was refused.Richard Miller, director of the Legal Aid Practitioners Group, said the fact that the panel found the case was of significant public importance meant that the LSC should be made to justify its decision.The commission is the funding body but it should still be accountable, he said.

The whole purpose of the panel was to address the problem of public interest cases which wouldnt have otherwise met the funding code, and if the commission is not listening, it would appear to defeat the object.