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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Jessica Murray Social affairs correspondent

Legal aid cyber-attack has pushed sector towards collapse, say lawyers

Criminal barristers holding their wigs
Much of the legal aid system remains offline, with lawyers unable to access records or bill for their services. Photograph: Hesther Ng/SOPA Images/REX/Shutterstock

Lawyers have warned that a cyber-attack on the Legal Aid Agency has pushed the sector into chaos, with barristers going unpaid, cases being turned away and fears a growing number of firms could desert legal aid work altogether.

In May, the legal aid agency announced that the personal data of hundreds of thousands of legal aid applicants in England and Wales dating back to 2010 had been accessed and downloaded in a significant cyber-attack.

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