The Legal Aid Board is an independent statutory body set up by the Civil Legal Aid Act 1995. Its principal function is to provide legal aid and advice in civil cases to persons who satisfy the requirements of the Act. One of those requirements is that an applicant satisfies a means test.
The board provides its services primarily through a network of full- and part-time law centres located throughout the country and also through the use of private solicitors whom it contracts to provide services in individual cases. Three of its law centres are dedicated exclusively to representing asylum seekers in the asylum process.