LAPG CONDEMNS 

More from the LAPG: The Legal Aid Practitioners Group today accused the Ministry of Justice of

Family Fees in October 

LAPG comment on the family paper issued by the LSC on Friday: Director Richard Miller said, “The revised family proposals show clear signs of the LSC having listened to the profession’s concerns. The willingness to defer introduction of the private law proposals for work after the issue of proceedings, in order to have further discussions […]

What type of Hat? 

Steve Barnes writes: I was told yesterday that someone responsible for the Court Duty allocation for a town in West Yorkshire forgot to allocate anyone for Saturday Court; his rather blase response to the understandable queries raised was to say that if any firms are interested he would take the solictor’s details and “draw lots […]

LEGAL AID PRACTITIONERS GROUP – PRESS RELEASE 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FOR MORE DETAILS CONTACT RICHARD MILLER 020 7960 6068 LONDON 03/04/2007 LAPG CONDEMNS

Lowering the Bar 

Marcel Berlins gives his take on the situation facing entry to the Bar here.

Tell It As It Is 

Whilst on the training trail practitioner discontent is something of an occupational hazard. Yesterday I spoke to a number of people both unhappy generally and also bemoaning the fact they are “trapped” in the publicly funded scheme rather than doing more lucrative private client work. As our friends at the LAPG point out we now […]

Lets Have a Heated Debate 

I tend to try and avoid politics on this blog but Gavin over here picks up on the recent “rebalancing” of the criminal justice system debate in two separate posts. As Mrs Merton might say, “lets have a heated debate”.

Nearly a Bulls-eye 

The Law Society seem to have got their response to the Preferred Supplier Scheme about right. They too spot the drift away from “low up-front entry criteria” implied by an increase in remote monitoring, Peer Review and file assessment. They also, again concurring with our experience, describe the last two elements as not yet being […]

More Carter 

Just mentioned Carter below when this press release arrives from the Association of Major London Criminal Firms. See what you think. “The Association of Major London Criminal Law Firms welcomes the publication of Lord Carter’s report on the procurement of Criminal Legal Defence Services and accepts the analysis that the system is in need of […]

Having Slept on This… 

To me the key paradox remains; Carter’s proposals are described as market-based reforms and yet we already have a functioning market. There are some problems with it here and there and perhaps some (minor) areas where savings could be made. It is also, unless anyone can contradict me, the most regulated professional market in the […]