Gauke considers appeal against High Court judgment that legal aid cuts were unlawful

The government is considering whether to appeal a High Court judgment that controversial cuts to criminal legal aid are unlawful.

Judges criticised the Ministry of Justice earlier this month over its introduction of new regulations that cut criminal lawyers’ fees for complex cases by 37%. As The Law Gazette reports, the regulations were found to be unlawful because they relied on flawed statistics and the consultation process to implement them had been conducted unfairly.

Following the judgment, criminal lawyers can now claim up to 10,000 pages of prosecution evidence, instead of just 6,000, to the Legal Aid Agency’s crown court fee scheme, which pays lawyers for crown court work.

However, it has now emerged that David Gauke, the lord chancellor, may decide to appeal the verdict. In a statement the Legal Aid Agency said:  “The question whether to appeal the order of the divisional court is still under consideration by the lord chancellor.”