Criminal Legal Aid and Section 150 Notices

On receiving instructions from a client, a solicitor is required, under section 150 of the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015, to provide a section 150 notice to the client that discloses the costs that will be incurred. Where it is not reasonably practicable to do so at that time, the solicitor can set out the basis upon which the costs are to be calculated until as such time as it becomes practicable to disclose the costs that will be incurred in a section 150 notice.

Where the client is granted legal aid under the Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) Act 1962, the Society is of the view that the requirement for the solicitor to inform the client of the costs they will incur cannot be met, as the client does not incur any costs towards the solicitor. As a consequence, solicitors appointed to provide legal aid under the Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) Act 1962 are not required to provide the client with a section 150 notice.