Can you apply for LA after instructing a sol?

You can apply at any time but this won't be retrospective so the fees you have incurred remain.

ABWOR - assistance by way of representation - is a form of legal aid which is has been superseded on the UK mainland although it seems it is still available in N.I. I seem to recall that the criteria for eligibility was less stringent than full public but the situation has no doubt changed in the many intervening years.

Charles

Thank you! I'm not so worried about the retrospective but if that's the case then I could have applied for LA on the same day that the start of the work for the last £600 fees started.

I'll ask my solicitor tomorrow as that £600 is money I could have done without losing.

Ok spoke to my solicitor who has had me sign new LA forms. It does say on the forms about applying at the point of instruction. What the solicitor is going to do is an emergency application and explain that I could just as easy sack her and hire a new solicitor the next week and apply for LA then so for easiness sake would they approve it now. I think what I was being told with a wink was if the LA was declined then dispense with her services then re-hire her

Seems LA in Northern Ireland differs slightly or so I'm told.