Legal aid in criminal trials is also means-tested unless the defendant is under 16 or under 18 and in full-time education, or receiving certain benefits. A defendant may be asked to pay a contribution for their defense. Scotland The Scottish Legal Aid Board provides civil and criminal legal aid in Scotland. In criminal cases, legal aid is provided if facing serious charges likely to result in a prison sentence or job loss, the mentally and physically disabled, those who do not speak English as a first language, those held on remand, and those facing appeals. Those requesting legal aid must show that they cannot afford to pay their own legal costs or doing so would be unfair to themselves or their families. Legal aid in civil cases is provided for applicants who show they cannot pay for their own legal costs, as well as those whose cases are deemed to have a legal basis to go forward. Northern Ireland The Legal Services Agency of Northern Ireland provides civil and criminal legal aid. Civil legal aid is means-tested. Criminal legal aid is provided free of charge to anyone facing police questioning. For criminal trials, legal aid is means-tested and is also merit-tested to determine whether it is in the interests of justice that the defendant receive legal aid. United States The Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides: The assistance of counsel clause includes, as relevant here, five distinct rights: the right to counsel of choice, the right to appointed counsel, the right to conflict-free counsel, the effective assistance of counsel, and the right to represent oneself pro se. A defendant does not have a Sixth Amendment right to counsel in any civil proceeding, including a deportation hearing (even though deportability is often a collateral consequence of criminal conviction). However, as described below, there are certain civil proceedings where parties have a right to appointed counsel; such a right is pursuant to the Fourteenth Amendment's due process or equal protection clause, a state constitution's due process or equal protection clause, or a federal/state statute. Subject to considerations such as conflicts of interest, scheduling, counsel's authorization to practice law in the jurisdiction, and counsel's willingness to represent the defendant (whether pro bono or for a fee), criminal defendants have a right to be represented by counsel of their choice. The remedy for erroneous deprivation of first choice counsel is automatic reversal.