Law Society president Lucy Scott-Moncrieff today spelled out to MPs the potentially devastating consequences of the government's plans to cut criminal legal aid.
Giving evidence at a Justice Select Committee hearing in the House of Commons, Ms Scott-Moncrieff dissected the economic viability of the proposed model and pointed out that the planned procurement model for criminal legal aid is deeply flawed.
Ms Scott-Moncrieff told members of the committee that very few business models under the plans would be economically viable, risking localised market failure and advice deserts. She explained that criminal legal aid is currently largely supplied by small, local firms and dispelled the myth that lawyers are 'fat cats'.
'The average legal aid lawyer makes £25,000 a year. Nurses typically earn £29,500, teachers £34,000, GPs £56,000. Hardly fat cats, any of them.'
The Justice Select Committee scrutinised the Ministry of Justice's (MoJ) proposals for the procurement of criminal legal aid, specifically the economic viability and the issue of defendants' choice of solicitor - which the proposals would fundamentally undermine.
Addressing the issue of client choice, Ms Scott-Moncrieff argued that the removal of client choice would create a system where quality was secondary to costs, reducing incentives to provide a high quality service. Many clients, such as those with mental health difficulties and specific language issues would suffer by not having access to specialist lawyers, she argued.
The Law Society president provided a wealth of information to inform the Committee's deliberations, explaining that:
'By proposing a tendering model that cannot possibly work in the current market conditions, the MoJ has demonstrated a complete lack of understanding of the sector.'
The Committee considered written evidence and oral evidence from the Law Society and other representative bodies, including the Bar Council.
The Law Society is now pursuing a number of follow-up actions, including making further representations to the Justice Committee and other parliamentary committees to increase the political scrutiny of these proposals.
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