Description
Legal Aid- Private Client Test. The Claimant applied to judicially review the decision by the Funding Review Committee of the Legal Services Commission to uphold the discharge of his legal aid certificate. The decision was quashed on the basis that the Committee had failed to provide adequate reasons as to how it had concluded that the substantial costs already incurred in the proceedings would not have justified a private client being advised to proceed, or how that conclusion fitted into its published guidance. Nevertheless, Ouseley J. made clear that the Claimant should not raise his hopes that his claim would proceed with legal help as a result of the decision; he had no expectation, legitimate or otherwise, that he would be covered by legal aid at the trial, Article 6 does not oblige a State to provide legal aid in all disputes.