Back in March, when Jack Straw announced plans to turn the Legal Services Commission into an executive agency, the Ministry of Justice assured us that the department had already assumed tighter control of the quango. At the time, the Law Society called for greater clarity in respect of the ‘parameters within which [solicitors] are operating’.

Some hope. The lengthy, expensive and chaotic tendering exercises which survived a change of government suggest the commission has a long way to go to appease its detractors. Each exercise has been beset by problems and delay, and has yielded perverse outcomes (see news and blog). Legal aid providers are now working towards shutting departments, laying off staff or closing down completely, while others are desperately trying to recruit staff and sort out new offices.

And for what? All this is happening ahead of a root-and-branch review of legal aid which could turn the system on its head yet again. Wouldn’t it have made more sense for the coalition government to implement a less disruptive interim solution – perhaps by extending existing contracts – until that review is complete?

Or is it hopelessly naive to expect that legal aid lawyers might for once be accorded a degree of respect and consideration for the valuable work that they do?