PROTEST: only 110 panel barristers but Legal Services Commission 'confident' over quality


The Legal Services Commission (LSC) launched its panel for very high cost criminal cases (VHCCs) last week - with 2,000 fewer advocates than it had originally wanted.



LSC chief executive Carolyn Regan said the low number of barristers who had signed up to the panel represented an 'opportunity' for solicitor-advocates.



Just 110 barristers have accepted a place on the VHCC panel. Most of the 2,300 barristers who had ?originally been offered VHCC contracts boycotted the arrangements in January because of arguments over pay rates.



The number of solicitors firms to sign up to the new panel has risen from 300 to 326, while 93 solicitor-advocates have taken a panel place - more than three times as many as had originally been offered contracts.



The LSC has amended the VHCC contract to allow solicitor panel firms to appoint a non-panel advocate if needed. Solicitors will be able to negotiate fees with the non-panel advocate - and stand to gain if the barrister or solicitor-advocate accepts work at a lower rate.



Regan admitted she was 'disappointed' that so many barristers had boycotted the panel but said she was 'heartened' by the responses received from solicitor-advocates. LSC policy director Richard Collins added that the high quality of solicitor panel firms meant he was ?'confident' there would be no drop in quality.



However, Bar Council chairman Timothy Dutton QC said 'urgent work' was needed to design 'a scheme that attracts high quality'. He added that solicitors would find it difficult to instruct high-quality advocates at the rates on offer, as it was likely that 'no barrister who has refused to sign the contract would contemplate working at a lower rate.'



Dutton added that while he made no criticism of solicitor-advocates, the shortage of panel barristers should not be seen as a chance for inexperienced people to get involved in VHCC work. He said: 'The reality is, if you are doing a terrorism or serious fraud case, you need a great deal of experience in the area.'



Rodney Warren, director of the Criminal Law Solicitors Association, said that barristers may be willing to accept VHCC work when presented by a concrete offer from solicitors. He added that, while in theory solicitors could gain financially by knocking down the fees they offered to barristers, they were unlikely to do this in practice because of the bad feeling it would create.



Rachel Rothwell