Jon Robins records the next steps in the government’s “dismantling” of publicly-funded law
Another month, another stand-off between the justice secretary and the legal profession. Defence lawyers are expected to march on the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) for a “Grayling Day” demo on Friday in a protest which will include speakers such as Paddy Hill of the Birmingham Six and Shami Chakrabarti of Liberty.
The government finally announced its response to the Transforming Legal Aid consultation last week. To remind civil law practitioners, this was a package of reforms which had at its heart the imposition of a system of price competitive tendering (PCT) where: (i) the number of solicitors’ firms would be slashed from 1,600 to 400; and (ii) bids would have to be 17.5% below current rates. So, for “transforming”, read “dismantling”.
The Law Society forced a series of concessions from Chris Grayling (principally, dropping PCT and ensuring defendants kept their right to choose their own lawyer) but, for their efforts, received a humiliating vote of no confidence at a specially convened AGM.
A disaster
Representative groups (with
