ILARS Funding Guidelines Practice Notes

Practice Notes for the Independent Legal Assistance and Review Service (ILARS) Funding Guidelines (Guidelines):

• Provide detailed operational rules to assist Approved Lawyers to understand how the provisions of the Guidelines will be applied
• Permit the Independent Review Office (IRO) to quickly update information provided to Approved Lawyers about IRO’s business processes

The Practice Notes may also be used to provide guidance on the kinds of supporting documents and information which are required by an ILARS grant manager to decide about a request for funding and assist Approved Lawyers who are considering whether to seek a review of a funding decision.

The Practice Notes are developed by IRO in consultation with the IRO Approved Lawyer User Group.

Background

In 2022, IRO undertook a Review of ILARS by an expert Committee. The Committee made 31 recommendations, Recommendations 3, 4, 5 & 6 related to supplementing the ILARS guidelines with Practice Notes and establishing an Approved Lawyer (AL) User Group (UG).

IRO accepted these recommendations and established an Approved Lawyer (AL) User Group (UG) in 2023 to provide a forum for ALs, who regularly use the Guidelines, to advise IRO on matters related to effective and consistent operation of those Guidelines.

Practice Notes developed by IRO will address the issues identified by the ILARS Review, and other areas identified for guidance internally and externally.