Internet Newsletter for Lawyers |
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The Legal Aid Practitioners Group has had a web site at the beginning of 2002 but has only recently begun to see the potential that the site could have as an integral part of the group’s support and campaigning role. Our site is now starting to reflect this new role as well as the original one of supporting the members.
News and lobbying is a key activity of any campaigning site and we have now appointed a professional editor, Sharon Wallach, to edit the news pages on the site. The site will thus become the prime source for news about legal aid and will often have news items which have not yet appeared anywhere else.
We have also expanded the lobbying and press pages to help keep people up to date with our Parliamentary activities and our successes in getting our agenda into the national news media. On our documents pages, you can find copies of our consultation responses.
Another aspect of campaigning is the giving – and receiving - of awards, and the site features the progress of the Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year Awards, launched this year in conjunction with Independent Lawyer magazine, and with sponsorship from Jordan Publishing. The awards will be judged by a panel chaired by Cherie Booth QC with the results announced at an awards ceremony on 14th April.
A key element of supporting the members as well as raising awareness of legal issues generally, is to help them find jobs and we have now introduced a job adverts section on the site which is proving very popular. Adverts are free to members for the time being.
We are also seeking to encourage people to put onto the site offers of training contracts or work experience, as we are already getting a lot of interest from students at universities and the College of Law who are interested in a career in legal aid.
Information Technology makes it simple to keep our members updated on important developments and we send members a digest of each issue of Focus and Focus on CDS as well as other regular updates, and warnings of forthcoming deadlines and impending changes. Back issues can be found on the site. (The LSC puts out a magazine every three months called Focus, which sets out any consultations, guidance changes, news or suchlike on legal aid issues. Focus on CDS is a companion magazine specifically on crime issues.)
You will also find full details on the site of our course programme. We are offering a range of seminars this year aimed at helping legal aid lawyers to maximise their costs on legal aid files, and to manage them so as to avoid problems on contract compliance audits.
Richard Miller is Director of the Legal Aid Practitioners Group, email richard@lapg.co.uk
Note: Any non-member recipient of this newsletter who is interested in placing an advert for a legal aid lawyer on the site may also take advantage of the free offer until 31st March 2003 by e-mailing kate@lapg.co.uk, quoting “Delia15”, enclosing the text for the advert. You may also include a logo in jpeg format if you wish.
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