Dear Members,
We are writing to share with you a joint statement issued today by the five largest regional law societies – Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester – in response to the recent data breach at the Legal Aid Agency (LAA).
The breach has potentially exposed highly sensitive personal information relating to legal aid applicants, including financial details, previous convictions, unproven allegations, and reports of domestic abuse. Alongside the serious data protection implications, the outage of the LAA’s online systems has left many of our legal aid practitioners unable to submit applications or claim payment, placing significant financial and operational strain on already overstretched firms.
On behalf of our members affected by these issues, we have joined with our partner law societies to call on the LAA to provide urgent updates, establish contingency arrangements, and commit to full transparency.
Please find the full Joint V Law Societies statement here for your information.
Best wishes,
Matt O’Brien, Vice President, Birmingham Law Society