Practice Standards for Legal Aid Providers

The project “Enhancing the Quality of Legal Aid: General Standards for Different Countries (QUAL-AID)” was developed and implemented in 2016-2018 by partners from three EU Member States: Lithuania, Germany and the Netherlands.

The project was developed in the light of the recent efforts of the international community to take steps towards improving legal aid quality and, in the EU context, taking into account the new Directive (EU) 2016/1919 on legal aid for suspects and accused persons in criminal proceedings and for requested persons in European arrest warrant proceedings. Project partners sought to contribute to enhancing the quality of legal aid services in criminal proceedings within the EU by developing practice standards for legal aid provision, enhancement of its quality and for supervision. In this regard, the project aimed at assisting Member States in proper implementation of the Directive 2016/1919.

As an additional target, the project partners sought to raise the capacity of legal aid policy makers, administrators and providers in ensuring high quality legal aid.

These Practice Standards set out selected good practices that are able to contribute to enhancing the quality of legal aid in criminal proceedings that were identified in the context of the QUAL-AID project. Explicit presentation of such good practices, together with examples, are intended to assist administrators and supervisors of legal aid in improving the quality of legal aid in their jurisdictions. For legal aid providers, these Practice Standards are of no less importance as they should encourage to further aim for quality.