In July, the Scottish government announced consultation on long-awaited new legislation to reform legal aid, with the society to put in a detailed submission to help shape a new Legal Aid (Scotland) Bill.

The society will be hosting the victims minister Kirsten Oswald MSP, and Scottish government officials on 21 September as they give a detailed outline of their plans for reform.

This will be followed on 28 September with an online members forum, giving legal aid solicitors the opportunity to ensure their voices are heard on their proposed solutions to restore access to justice and the challenges and opportunities they anticipate from structural reform of the legal aid system.

Together, the two events will inform the society’s work on its consultation response, which will seek to ensure reforms restore access to justice and that legal aid work is a viable career path within the solicitor profession.

The criminal legal aid convener for the Law Society of Scotland’s Legal Aid Committee, Ian Moir, said: “The current legal aid system is failing vulnerable people and the solicitors who sit at the heart of access to justice. It’s so important that we as legal aid solicitors inform ourselves and speak up to ensure these reforms are effective.”

The committee’s civil legal aid convener, Peter Walsh, said: “We have been working diligently since this consultation process was announced and importantly listening to the real-life experiences of solicitors working in legal aid. I’d encourage my colleagues to attend and engage with these events.”

To register for either or both of these events, please contact us at memberservices@lawscot.org.uk. For those unable to attend these events, please contact us with your questions and input on the legal aid consultation and reform process at legalaid@lawscot.org.uk.