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Deadline for Solicitors Criminal Legal Aid panel

Solicitors who want to be placed on the Criminal Legal Aid (CLA) panel for 2025 are required to submit some documentation, the Law Society Criminal Law Committee has said.

A completed application form (in Excel format), together with a copy of a current eTax Clearance Certificate (eTC), should be submitted from 1 December each year.

The application form can be found on the Courts Service website at courts.ie/legal-aid.

When applying for an eTC on a Revenue account, apply for the CLA panel eTC form, which is available on the site.

Applications for inclusion on the 2025 panel must be received in the Courts Service Centralised Office in Castlebar Courthouse no later than 20 December 2024.

No solicitor will be paid for criminal-legal-aid work if an application has not been submitted.

From date of receipt

The Department of Justice has directed that payments will only be made from the date the application is received.

No arrears will be paid for the period during which an application was not submitted.

Where a solicitor changes company or sets up as a separate entity, they should complete the application form and submit it with their eTC to the Centralised Legal Aid Panel section in the Courts Service (email: legalaidpanel@courts.ie).

It is the responsibility of individual solicitors to submit their application and eTC on time.

For queries relating to the solicitors’ panel, please email legalaidpanel@courts.ie.