Author Description

The assessment of the quality of an intangible, professional service such as the provision of legal aid is a difficult yet important task. As a major purchaser of legal services on behalf of the taxpaper and for the benefit of the consumer, the Legal Aid Board is seeking to work in a partnership arrangement with solicitors providing legal aid services, including those in law centres and advice agencies. This partnership was outlined in the franchising proposals developed by the Legal Aid Board and outlined in Franchising: The Next Steps. An essential element of these proposals is the use of the transaction criteria presented here. The criteria cover green form/ABWOR and emergency legal aid work only and are designed to provide a mechanism for the collection of objective evidence that a legal adviser has considered the relevant process issues in particular cases.