About us

We provide advice and representation in criminal cases. We work across Scotland and can help individuals who have a case calling in any Scottish court.

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Anyone entitled to legal aid can use our publicly-funded service

Our legal team

We're experienced solicitors and solicitor advocates. We provide high quality advice & representation in all criminal matters.

Our solicitors are all members of the Law Society of Scotland and are bound by the same standards of professional conduct that all solicitors have.

In addition we have our own code of conduct for Public Defence Solicitors.

PDSO and the Scottish Legal Aid Board

The Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) was responsible for setting up the PDSO. Our Director reports to SLAB’s Chief Executive on administrative issues and is accountable for the overall operation of PDSO.

We operate entirely independently in all other ways. It is the responsibility of our Head of Service to determine the way our offices operate and for individual solicitors to make decisions based on the specific circumstances of each individual case.

SLAB assess the applications we submit for criminal legal aid in exactly the same way as those submitted by private solicitors.

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