Wednesday’s Budget offered little comfort - and even less clarity - for those of us working within the criminal justice system. Despite the well-documented crisis facing our courts, prisons, and frontline legal services, there was no mention whatsoever of how the...
News
Campaigning for fairness in criminal lawMoJ to remove right to trial by jury for thousands of cases
MoJ to remove right to trial by jury for thousands of cases in controversial overhaul | Trial by jury | The Guardian The CLSA is very concerned about the Government’s announcement to remove the right to jury trials for a large proportion of cases. Trial by jury is a...
A New Chapter for the CLSA: Katy Hanson Takes the Chair as Daniel Bonich Passes the Baton
The Criminal Law Solicitors’ Association (CLSA) is delighted to announce that Katy Hanson will take over as Chair, following Daniel Bonich’s five-year tenure leading the association through one of the most turbulent and transformative periods in criminal law. Andrew...
Zoe Gascoyne Receives an OBE for Services to Complex Tax Investigations
Past Chair of the CLSA, Zoe Gascoyne, was recently awarded an OBE in the King's Birthday Honours for services to complex tax investigations. Zoe was one of 1200 people from across the UK to receive an honour in the lastest list. Zoe works for the law enforcement side...
Urgent: Have Your Say on Criminal Legal Aid Fee Increases – Just Over One Week Left
Dear [Member/Colleague] A live consultation is currently underway on proposed fee increases for Criminal Legal Aid work – and there is just over a week left to respond. If you haven’t already done so, we strongly urge you to read the details below and submit a...
Publication of definitive ancillary orders guidance
The Sentencing Council has published a package of definitive ancillary orders guidance, covering 29 different types of order including matters such as compensation, criminal behaviour orders, football banning orders and restraining orders. During the development of...
Cyber Issues – LAA – Template Letter
We are aware that the ongoing issues with the LAA are now impacting hearings including those in the Crown Court. We are having regular meetings for updates with the LAA and are aware they are working on further contingencies. Until those are in place, we have prepared...
Sentencing Council: Publication of response to its fourth annual miscellaneous amendments consultation
The Sentencing Council has today published a response to the fourth annual consultation on miscellaneous amendments to sentencing guidelines. The response document sets out the changes that will be made to guidelines and can be found here. The majority of these...
LAA Data Breach
Update Friday 23rd May 2025 We continue to seek updates in relation to the data breach and will send updates when we have anything meaningful The Law Society have also been working hard on this and regularly update the link below....