Legal aid

The Scottish Parliament's Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee is looking at civil legal assistance (Civil Legal Aid and Advice and Assistance for civil justice issues) and grant funding for advice organisations and has invited views on what is working and not working within the current civil legal aid system and what changes could be made in the short and longer term to address access issues.

• Find out more about the Inquiry
• Read our response
• Watch the Scottish Parliament's Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee evidence session on 13 May 2025

The Scottish Legal Aid Board has published a consultation seeking views on the application of the Interets of Justice Test in sheriff court proceedings. The consultation is available to read on SLAB's website.

Read our consultation response.

The Scottish Government has issued a consultation on legal aid reform in Scotland.

• View the consultation on the Scottish Government Website
• The Law Society of Scotland's response (September 2019)

Our Legal Aid Committee has considered The Legal Aid and Advice and Assistance (Scotland) (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2019 which were laid before the Scottish Parliament on 1 March 2019 and will come into force on 26 April 2019.

• Read our written evidence (March 2019)

The Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) has issued a consultation on changes to the Criminal Quality Assurance Scheme and the Peer Review Criteria.

• View the consultation on SLAB's website
• The Law Society of Scotland's response (October 2018)

View our legal aid heat maps for a geographical representation of all civil and criminal legal aid practitioners in Scotland.

The Scottish Parliament Justice Committee has issued a call for written evidence on the Criminal Legal Assistance (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Scotland) Regulations 2017.

• The Law Society of Scotland's response (December 2017)
• Criminal Legal Aid Committee Convener letter to Annabelle Ewing (5 January 2018)
• Ministerial letter to Ian Moir (8 February 2018)

In February the Scottish Government announced that there is to be an independent review of the legal aid system in Scotland. The review is to be chaired by Martyn Evans, CEO of Carnegie Trust. The review group will also include solicitors with strong experience of working in legal aid;

• Lindsey McPhie, solicitor advocate and immediate past president of the Glasgow Bar Association

• Jackie McRae, a SSSC registered social worker, solicitor accredited by the Law Society as a specialist in family law and a former member of the Law Society’s Council

The independent legal aid review published a call for evidence on 9 March 2017 and you can read the Law Society's full response here.

The call for evidence poses four main questions:

• What shared values and ethos should underpin legal aid services, and how best can they be embedded in the delivery of legal services in the future?

• How best can wider organisational arrangements (including functions, structures and processes) support and enable the delivery of effective legal aid services?

• How best can legal aid services achieve positive outcomes for and with the people of Scotland?

• If you were designing a system of legal aid today what would you do differently from the current system to make it more effective and person-centred?

Read our response to the report of the independent strategic review of legal aid here.

The Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) has issued a consultation inviting stakeholders to give their views on a revised Code of Practice in relation to criminal legal assistance.

• View the consultation on the SLAB website
• The Law Society of Scotland's response (April 2017)