Deploying more unqualified and unregulated case workers is a false and unjust economy, says Des Hudson
With the passage of the Legal Services Act 2007 (LSA 2007), it would be explicable to believe that the controversial legislative changes were behind us—at least for now. But there will be no hiatus. Clause 58 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill may not be on every solicitor’s radar but it poses the same debates—debates that go to the heart of what it is to be a solicitor and the role solicitors play in the criminal justice system.
If enacted unamended, the clause will radically change the role of designated case workers (or DCWs). Those who work in the criminal justice system will have been familiar with DCWs since their introduction in 1999. It is a position that both experienced case workers and those with a legal qualification can attain, presenting some cases in the magistrates’ court and developing limited advocacy skills. And it is also a role that has already been amended twice with internal restrictions imposed by the director of public prosecutions’ instructions being
