Derry/Strabane saw £6.4m legal aid authorisations to solicitors’ firms – second to Belfast

Solicitors’ firms in Derry and Strabane accounted for the second highest expenditure on legal aid in the North after Belfast, according to the Legal Services Agency’s (LSA) inaugural Official Statistics publication for the year ending March 2023.

There were 31 firms in Derry/Strabane in 2022/23 (20.6 per 1,000 people) and the average distance to a nearest firm was 2.5 kilometres.

The bulletin shows 5,560 legal aid applications were granted to assisted persons in Derry/Strabane in 2022/23, with 3,950 relating to criminal cases and 1,610 to civil cases.

Civil cases accounted for 51 per cent (£3,283,601) of legal aid authorisations to solicitors’ firms locally, with criminal cases accounting for 49 per cent (£3,100,426) – a sum total of £6,384,027.

“With the largest proportion of registered solicitor firms, almost half of solicitor expenditure (£27.6m) went to firms in Belfast. This is followed by Derry City & Strabane £6.4m (11%), Newry, Mourne & Down £6m (10%) and Armagh City, Banbridge & Craigavon £5.3m (9%). Solicitor firms in Lisburn & Castlereagh had the lowest expenditure with £1.1m (2%),” the report states.

The 5,560 legal aid applications granted in Derry/Strabane represented the third highest figure after Belfast (17,010) and Armagh City, Banbridge & Craigavon (5,721).

However, in per capita terms the city and district had the second highest rate of legal aid authorisations with 36.9 per 1,000 after Belfast’s 48.9 per 1,000.

Belfast, the report notes, displays ‘the highest rate of grants (of 48.9 grants per 1,000 population), but at a rate that is one-third higher than both Derry City & Strabane (36.9) and Lisburn & Castlereagh (36.6)’.

Derry/Strabane accounted for the second highest per capita rate of criminal case authorisations during the year.

"In terms of criminal cases, Belfast displays the highest rate of grants at 32.5 per 1,000 population. This is almost 50 per cent higher than the NI average (22.9) and compares with the second highest rate of 26.2 in Derry City and Strabane.

"However, when it comes to civil legal aid, Lisburn & Castlereagh LGD displays the highest rate at 19.2 per 1,000 population, with Belfast second highest at 16.4 per 1,000,” the authors note.

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