The Legal Services Commission's (LSC) decision to release £3 million in training grants is to be welcomed (see 2006 Gazette, 29 June, 1). However, this should not be fanfared as a new development as the system has been in force for some time. Our firm has had the benefit of two grants for trainee solicitors in the recent past.


It would be more interesting to know from the LSC why it thinks anyone would want to accept this money and enter 'legally aided' work in the current climate. What does the future hold for the legal aid lawyer? We operate under fixed-fee schemes where we subsidise the LSC fund by doing unremunerated work. We are probably the most audited part of the whole profession, but the systems that we operate are at our expense. We are threatened by Community Legal Advice Centres, and by the desire to move public funds away from private practice. We are told that the LSC will move to preferred suppliers to improve quality. In reality, this is likely to mean fewer staff at the LSC and more administration for the firms left in the system.


It is all very well to introduce new money for trainees but without making sure that the system allows legal aid firms to survive, the grants will merely give young people false hope.

Chris Topping, Jackson & Canter, Liverpool