On 18-19 June, representatives of the Free Legal Aid System in Ukraine and of the Ukrainian National Bar Association participated in a study visit to Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom.

The visit aimed at providing participants a closer insight into the work of the Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB), with the primary focus on the quality assurance mechanism within the legal aid provision in Scotland. The event was opened by Kingsley Thomas, Manager of Criminal Legal Assistance at the SLAB, and Lindsay Montgomery, Ex-Chief Executive at the SLAB, who presented how the Scottish legal aid model functions.

During the visit, the participants had an opportunity to make themselves familiar with the work of the legal aid scheme in Scotland, its institutional and operational frameworks, especially in relation to the provision of criminal advice and assistance. The delegation learnt a lot about the quality assurance mechanism both in criminal and civil cases, which is currently carried out through the peer review in Scotland. The history and background as to the development of the quality assurance measures, as well as the practical details of the peer review process were outlined and discussed, inter alia regarding the administration of the process, peer review criteria, approach towards the assessment when double peer review is carried out, scoring system, report writing, etc.

The participants also visited the Peer Reviewer’s Office where they had the opportunity to exchange on the experience of the peer review application from the perspective of a person that already performs the peer review for several years. Further on, they met with representatives of the Law Society of Scotland where issues of constructive cooperation between the Legal aid Board and the Bar were discussed. The motto of the visit was: “Everything starts with partnership”.

The visit also served as a forum for the consideration of future discussion in Ukraine on the development of the concept of the quality assurance mechanism within the Ukrainian Legal Aid System.

The study visit to The Scottish Legal Aid Board was organised within the framework of the Council of Europe Project “Continued Support of the Criminal Justice Reform in Ukraine”, funded by the Danish government.