Ruth Evans to Lead Criminal Legal Aid Advisory Board
The government announcement is short, but the issue behind it is not. Ruth Evans has been appointed the second chair of the Criminal Legal Aid Advisory Board, taking over from HH Deborah Taylor when her three-year term begins on 1 September. If that sounds like one of those public appointments you are meant to skim past, it is worth slowing down. Criminal legal aid is about whether people accused of crimes can get proper legal help, and that sits close to one of the basic tests of a fair justice system.
The Board, usually shortened to CLAAB, gives independent leadership and strategic direction on criminal legal aid. According to the government, its chair advises the Lord Chancellor on how criminal legal aid schemes are working now and how they may need to change in future. That means the job is less about headline politics and more about the quieter questions that still decide people’s lives: whether the market is sustainable, whether the state is collecting the right data, and what happens when policy changes hit solicitors, barristers and defendants.
When we talk about criminal legal aid, we are talking about public funding that helps people get legal advice and representation in criminal cases when private fees would be out of reach. Without that support, the promise of a fair hearing can start to depend too heavily on what someone can afford. **What this means:** a board like CLAAB does not run court cases itself, but it can influence the advice ministers receive about whether the system is strong enough to do its job. If legal aid is under strain, access to justice is usually one of the first things you should ask about.
That is why a change in chair matters. The chair is expected to steer discussions, draw together evidence, oversee reports and recommendations, and represent the Board externally. In practice, that can affect which problems are pushed to the front of the conversation and which fixes are treated as urgent. For students and younger readers, this is a useful reminder that justice policy is not only made in Parliament or in courtrooms. It is also shaped in advisory bodies and formal meetings where questions about money, staffing, evidence and fairness are worked through in detail.
Ruth Evans brings a strong public-interest background to the post. The government says she has spent 40 years championing the public and consumer interest, and she is the founding chair of Stop Scams UK. Her earlier roles help explain why ministers may see her as a good fit for an advisory job. She has chaired the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, the Bar Standards Board and the Authority for Television on Demand. She has also served as a non-executive director at the National Audit Office, the Independent Police Complaints Commission and the Serious Fraud Office.
CLAAB itself is still quite new. It was first established in October 2022 and meets quarterly, which tells you two things at once: this is now a regular part of the justice system’s policy machinery, but it is also young enough that its influence is still being built. Its membership brings together voices from across the system, including the Bar Council, the Law Society of England and Wales, the Criminal Bar Association, solicitor groups, CILEX, younger lawyer bodies, the Crown Prosecution Service, the Legal Aid Agency and Ministry of Justice officials. That matters because criminal legal aid works best when more than one perspective is in the room.
HH Deborah Taylor, who led the Board from 2023 to 2026, leaves behind a body that has already become an important meeting point for arguments about sustainability, evidence and reform. Ruth Evans now steps into that role for the next three years. This is not dramatic news in the usual sense, but it is the kind of quiet decision that can still carry real weight. If we want a justice system that works for people, not only for those who can pay, then who leads the conversation on criminal legal aid is worth your attention.