At the recent ACL Legal Aid Group conference, Vicky Ling (Chartered Quality Professional and Management Consultant) spoke about the controversial transfer of court bills to the LAA and concerns raised by members of Resolution. These mirror some concerns at Kutter Walters:

– District Judges are very familiar with the case and know the extent of work required throughout. There is concern that the LAA will not have this same understanding when assessing a claim, or whether they have the expertise to do so.

– Is the existing appeals process adequate as there are no Detailed Assessment Hearings when an assessment of an LAA assessed Bill takes place?

At Kutter Walters, we have prepared a number of matters which would have been assessed by the Court now. So far so good…but it is early days. Time will tell whether the LAA are able to provide the level of assessment service expected by the industry.