Leanne Gailbraith

Leanne Gailbraith, Legal Aid Agency (LAA) Digital Champion

Thank you to everyone who attended the Defence Practitioner Awareness Days between September and October 2017.  We would like to take this opportunity to update defence practitioners on what we have done with the information they provided at those events and how we want to make it easier for them to access our research results in future.  

We have reviewed the Common Platform screen designs to reflect the feedback we received about how to access the Initial Details of the Prosecution Case (IPDC) when a defendant changes their instructions from one organisation to another before the first hearing.  

We will make sure the Common Platform's first version of the defence application tests the core process of self-serving IDPC using a defendant's details and the Criminal Justice System unique reference number.  We also discovered the unique reference number is called the Pre-Trial Issues (PTI) unique reference number and Case File Number in some areas.  

At the awareness days defence practitioners also raised issues on their ability to access the unique reference number.  We are now working with police and Crown Prosecution Service to make sure defence [practitioners have access to the unique reference number, when they need it. It will be available from the PACE interview stage through to the day of the first hearing. 

To keep defence practitioners involved and engaged in the work of the Common Platform we have created an online forum where we can show them our research, screen designs and other Common Platform elements. It is also a space for them to provide feedback, ideas and suggestions. 

The online forum currently contains Common Platform screen designs which we showed you back in September We have also posted the updated designs which were user researched in December 2017 along with URN access process map. 

We have included the presentation slides used during the defence awareness days which also explains the Common Platform Vision.  We have also posted a number of videos demonstrating the functionality of other Common Platform products. We will continue to add content to this space that is relevant to defence practitioners.  

Those defence practitioners who attended the awareness days and provided their email addresses will receive an invite to join our online space shortly. If you don't receive an invite by Friday 23 February 2018 or if you are a deference practitioner who would like to join the online community space please join here. Please provide an email address that is identifiable to your defence organisation. Only practitioners who work within the Criminal Justice System can join.

Leanne Galbraith, Duty Solicitor and Legal Aid Agency (LAA) Digital Champion.