Birmingham criminal firm wins legal aid appeal, securing additional £1,500 payment for retrial
Hussain Solicitors, a criminal defence firm based in Birmingham, has won a legal aid appeal concerning the treatment of a retrial after a lengthy delay and changes to both the defence team and judge. The firm represented a client charged with conspiracy to steal vehicles and conspiracy to conceal, disguise or convert criminal property.
The case dates back to March 2022, when the client’s trial began but was abruptly halted the following month due to illness affecting jurors and evidential issues. The trial was rescheduled for January 2024 with a new judge and a different defence firm taking over the representation. The defendant was convicted in February 2024.
Despite the lengthy gap and change in the legal team, the Legal Aid Agency’s officer initially ruled that only one trial had occurred and no fee would be payable to Hussain Solicitors. However, the firm appealed, arguing that the long delay and change of defence team meant the January 2024 hearing should be considered a separate retrial.
Embed from Getty ImagesIn a pivotal ruling, Costs Judge Leonard in R v Sandel stated that there are instances where a retrial should be considered a new trial, even if the original trial did not fully run its course. In this case, the judge determined that the 20-month gap between the trials, the change of judge, and the new defence team made it “quite unrealistic” to treat the January 2024 hearing as part of the same trial.
The judge concluded: “It cannot sensibly be said that the January 2024 trial formed part of the same procedural and temporal matrix as the March/April 2022 trial.” As a result, the appeal was allowed, and Hussain Solicitors was awarded the appropriate additional legal aid payment of £1,500, plus VAT, as well as the £100 paid for the appeal process.
This victory highlights the challenges facing law firms navigating complex legal aid cases, especially when delays and procedural changes occur. Hussain Solicitors’ success in this appeal underlines the importance of careful legal strategy in securing appropriate remuneration for defence teams working on lengthy and complicated cases.
