Law Society joins new fee review group to fight for legal aid

The Law Society of Scotland has joined a new legal aid Fee Review Mechanism Group to help push for changes that ensure the system’s long-term viability.

Law Society President Patricia Thom attended the first meeting of the new group on Wednesday, 3 December 2025, alongside Ian Moir, Co-convener of the Society’s Legal Aid Committee.

The Scottish Government has invited a range of legal and other stakeholders to join, with the group to provide independent advice on providing fair pay for solicitors to ensure sustainable access to legal aid services.

It renews Law Society involvement after the Society withdrew from the previous Legal Aid Remuneration Project in April last year, ending two years of involvement because of a lack of progress.

Membership of the new Fee Review Mechanism Group includes:

• The Law Society of Scotland
• Scottish Solicitors Bar Association
• Society of Solicitor Advocates
• Scottish Association of Law Centres
• The Faculty of Advocates
• Scottish Legal Aid Board
• Citizens Advice Scotland
• Consumer Scotland

Patricia Thom said: “Ian and I are happy to have joined this new group and to have attended its inaugural meeting. We are keen to get to work on the critical task at hand to put legal aid in Scotland on a viable and sustainable footing not just now but into the future.

“The Law Society is committed to working constructively with all members of the Fee Review Mechanism Group, and to making recommendations for effective and sustainable changes, including the essential requirement of a regular fee review mechanism.

“We have been in a similar position before with the previous group without achieving the outcomes that are so desperately needed for access to justice, so it’s important that this opportunity results in concrete progress as the legal aid system continues to deteriorate.

“We are grateful to the Minister for Victims and Community Safety Siobhian Brown for listening to the concerns of lawyers who work in legal aid, and taking this step towards resolving the longstanding legal aid crisis.”