Lawyers are fighting in England and Wales to pay bills after penetration of legal assistance

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Lawyers are struggling all over England and Wales to meet their needs after leaving an electronic attack on the Legal Assistance Agency many without regular income, raising concerns about the future of legal representation funded by the public.

Civil lawyers working in areas such as the family lawHousing and Immigration told the Financial Times that they and his colleagues have left unable to pay bills and are concerned that there is no “no end on the horizon” because they are waiting to repair their systems.

One of them said: “In the middle of this month, I could not stay, I had to ask my partner to cover my period.” Migration lawyer. “It will eventually affect the vulnerable people … If people who do this job should leave because of this pressure, this will collect problems related to the already legal assistance.”

the The Ministry of Justice said in May that laaWhich provides financing and advice to people in England and Wales, which faces civil and criminal legal problems, have been hacked. The turmoil means that lawyers cannot work and get a wage, which leads to a lack of highly funded practices of legal assistance.

While Laa has developed an emergency plan to pay lawyers based on the average previous three bills, many said they do not want to use them if they are on a hook for Clawbacks or the future tax bills.

Internet criminals stole information related to legal assistance applicants, including communication and addresses, as well as financial information dating back to 2010.

The government obtained a judicial order prohibiting the detection or publication of data, which was stolen by a “well -known piracy group”, a court in London heard last month. The group has not been named in the documents to prevent it from receiving advertising.

Many lawyers, who work for their own account, have value -added tax payments and taxes scheduled this month, which increases their fears.

“The pressure caused by this is absolutely incredible,” said Barbara Mils KC, president of the Bar Assembly, who said she had received e -mail messages late from lawyers interested in paying their real estate loans.

“I can’t even find words to describe the level of the crisis.

Moj refused to comment when the regime backup will be made. However, a number of lawyers said that they have been told by industry bodies to expect the continuous situation until the end of the year.

The government has announced the first major financing increase in legal assistance and immigration assistance rates in nearly 30 years this month, which increases rates of up to 42 percent. The rise is part of the government’s attempt to address the justice crisis, with accumulation Almost 77,000 criminal cases in the crown courts.

“We have introduced improved emergency measures to simplify legal aid requests, ensure that people are represented and the system is preserved … and they continued to work as quickly as possible to restore our system online,” said a MJ spokesman.