Farleys Solicitors has received confirmation from the Legal Aid Agency that they have been awarded a contract for criminal investigations and criminal proceedings.
The contract allows solicitors to provide their services on a legal aid basis to people requiring help. From the 1st April 2017 Farleys will be included in the Legal Aid Agency’s rota for crime work and work on duty. The new contract will include work from our new office in Winckley Square, Preston and as such will play its part in the continued development and expansion of the firm as a whole.
The Legal Aid Agency is based in London and helps over 2 million people across England and Wales deal with legal problems. Over 1,400 organisations across 2,100 offices applied for the new contracts.
Paul Schofield, Partner in the firm’s criminal law department with particular responsibility for Business Crime, Fraud and Regulatory Defences commented:
“It’s great that we will be able to continue to offer our first-class services to all clients across the board and throughout the country. We have many years of experience dealing with all levels of cases through legal aid. We deal with a lot of high profile matters and it’s important for us to be able to represent them whether they’re based locally or nationally; legal aid or private.”
Jonathan Taylor, who is also Partner at the firm overseeing the department’s mainstream criminal law work, commented:
“Working on a legal aid basis allows us to really support our community and represent clients that may not always earn enough money to pay for the representation they need. We cover all areas of crime work and offer 24hr services, so it’s important that people know we are on hand and able to support them.“
Our crime team have had a number of great successes over many years and are ranked as a leading firm in the Legal 500 with both Jonathan Taylor and Paul Schofield named as recommended lawyers, with the department also recently being awarded a ‘Band 1’ rating in the Chambers and Partners rankings for 2017. The Crime team will also be moving to the firm’s new Preston office which is opening December 2016.