Key messages for legal suppliers - September 2019

Help and support using LAMS

• Practitioners are reminded to use the on-line support available to help you navigate LAMS:

1. On-line Supplier Manual
2. Instructional videos
3. FAQs

• Telephone support – if having consulted the on-line manual and/or watched the relevant instructional video, you require further help to perform a task on LAMS, telephone support is available on 02890 408888 between 8.30 am and 5.30pm Monday to Friday.

• The LAMS support team is offering a series of clinic events for solicitors and staff in October and November. Details were emailed to solicitor firms on 24 September 2019. 
• To receive text messages relating to the access and availability of LAMS see LSA circular 19/19 for solicitors and staff or circular 18/19 for barristers.

Case critical

• The case critical email facility was withdrawn on 30 September 2019.  Please refer to LSA circular 21/19 for details. The circular advises practitioners not to submit emails to the case critical facility as the email is not now reviewed. If practitioners have submitted to the case critical they should resubmit their applications on LAMS unless otherwise directed by the circular. 
• Practitioners are reminded that they should ensure that they input onto LAMS all successful grants and authorities which they submitted to the case critical email facility.
• Practitioners are reminded that they will not be able to apply for any further applications and requests for cases granted under the transitional case critical arrangements until the case is on LAMS.

Data Security

• Practitioners’ attention is urgently re-drawn to the document entitled Terms and Conditions of using LAMS. 

Passwords

• Users must NOT share or disclose their login details for LAMS to ANYONE (this includes the LSA support team).
• For forgotten nidirect login details (email address, password, memorable word) you should contact 0300 200 7868.
• To regenerate your LAMS passwords, users must login to LAMS and select the ‘I’ve forgotten my password’ link. This will send a new PIN to the registered email address.
• Users must change their login details whenever there is any indication of possible login compromise. You must keep your login details for LAMS Services secure. You will be deemed to be responsible for all activity and information submitted to the Services carried out under your username and password.

Access to LAMS

• All administrative and non-legally qualified staff within a business who need to access and input to LAMS must create an ‘other employee account’. They must create an nidirect account before they create their LAMS account, there is a different procedure for these staff in that they do not need to produce documents and be verified. Further information on who to create an nidirect and LAMS account can be found on page 17 the Supplier Manual.

Solicitors transferring to another firm

• If a solicitor moves to another firm, the account administrator of the firm they are leaving should detach them from that firm.

• The solicitor should update the email address associated with their individual supplier account and then give their supplier reference number to their new account administrator who will attach them to the new firm.
• See page 28-29 of the on-line Supplier Manual.

Responding to Queries from LSA

• After you have submitted a request LSA staff may require you to provide further details, update/amend your request or provide additional supporting documentation. To allow you to do this LSA will Query the original request.
• You will receive an email notification telling you that a query is waiting in your LAMS account.  For security reasons, no detail is provided in the email itself, it is simply advising you to visit your account.
• Access the query on LAMS by clicking on  ‘View queries for my business’ – see page 213 – 220 of the Supplier Manual
• Respond to the Query and Resubmit the Request.  Please note that while the Query is being dealt with by you, the request status changes to Queried and all work by LSA will stop until you provide the required information/clarification and resubmit the request.
• When you deal with the query, you resubmit the request. The request status changes to Resubmitted.
• The request appears at the bottom of the LSANI queue and LSANI can start to process it again.
• If you attempt to provide the answer to the query in any other way other than in the manner outlined above the LSANI will not be able to process your request. 

Barristers attached to cases on LAMS