Legal professionals in civil cases

Information for solicitors

Are you interested in doing civil legal aid work?

Legally aided persons were represented by private solicitors in over 13,000 cases in 2018. We are among the biggest suppliers of work to the private legal sector in family law, international protection and personal insolvency matters. In 2018, over 7,000 family law litigants, almost 1,500 asylum seekers, nearly 800 people needing advice in relation to losing their home and 600 people seeking to overturn a creditor veto on their proposal for a personal insolvency arrangement received legal services from a private solicitor, paid for by the Legal Aid Board. 

There are more limited opportunities to do civil legal aid work in some other areas, such as coroners' inquests, divorce/separation, and public law child care.

How do I register to do civil legal aid work?

To do any civil legal aid work, you'll need to be enrolled as a solicitor in the State, have adequate professional indemnity and meet tax clearance requirements.

Before you can take on legally aided clients you'll need to join one or more of our solicitors panels. Each panel has terms and conditions which you must accept prior to signing up. You should fill out an application form (available by phoning 066 9471000 or emailing ppunit@legalaidboard.ie) and return it to the Board.  Not all of our panels are open to new entrants all the time, but the District Court family law panel, which is our busiest, is always open to new entrants. Some panels require you to attend a training programme or otherwise satisfy us that you have experience in the area of law that you want to work to do legal aid work in. There may other requirements specific to particular panels.

Membership of any panel is in the name of the individual solicitor and not the firm. Firms in which more than one solicitor intends to join a panel should send separate application forms in respect of each solicitor, but they can be sent together under the same cover. While each panel is a national one, solicitors are given the opportunity when completing the application form to indicate the counties where they are willing to provide representation.

Applications to join any of the Board's panels should be sent to:

Private Practitioner Services,
Legal Aid Board,
Quay Street,
Cahirciveen,
Co. Kerry V23 RD36

(DX 166 004 CAHIRCIVEEN)

Email ppunit@legalaidboard.ie

What are the panels?

The panels are:

Information for barristers

A law centre or a solicitor who does civil legal aid work can only brief a barrister who is a member of the Board's barristers' panel. There is one barristers' panel, which covers all types of civil legal aid work.  Details, including applications forms, are available here.

Claim Forms

Legal Aid - Civil Legal Aid Counsel Fee Claim Form

Download Civil Legal Aid Claim Form LABCFCF - Civil