A crackdown on the operation of the green form scheme is planned by the Legal Aid Board in the light of what it terms the 'mass marketing' of the scheme by solicitors.The board's fraud investigation unit is looking at the activities of up to 20 firms in the Midlands and the north west which have been using a variety of techniques - including leafleting of council estates, cold calling and holding clinics in roadside vehicles - to attract work.The police and the Serious Fraud Office are also investigating the activities of three firms in the Midlands which used the highly proactive marketing techniques des-cribed above.The phenomenon of aggressive marketing of the green form scheme is relatively recent, emerging, says the board, only over the last 18 months.

It is most prevalent in the Midlands but, according to the Law Society's fraud intelligence officer, Barry Mayne, the practice has spread to the north and south of the country.The board acknowledges that there is nothing per se wrong with these marketing methods although, according to Peter Smith, head of the LAB investigation unit, there is evidence of 'clients having advice thrust at them' and of 'shopping lists of legal problems' being drawn up.The board's investigations are centred on whether clients received all the advice claimed for.

There is a suspicion in some cases, says Mr Smith, of 'minimal advice and maximum money claims'.

Another issue is whether those giving the advice were adequately supervised.

According to Mr Smith, there is suspicion in some cases that the legal aid regulations are being breached on this point.In none of the cases being investigated at the moment is there evidence of fictitious clients but the board considers that it is 'prima facie suspicious' where claims relating to a single individual are submitted at different intervals.

In one case a solicitor submitted 42 claims in relation to a single individual over a period of six months.The sort of crackdown action planned by the board includes visiting the firm to check how it operates the scheme and cross-checking with clients about the advice they received.

Mr Smith points out that some client interviews have already revealed disparities.

Other measures include postponing or disallowing green form payments and subjecting the firm to a full analysis of green form claims by the investigation section.The board has more than once recently highlighted the difficulties of exerting control over a system that involves the processing of 1.6 million individual forms a year.

And if the measures outlined above fail to have the desired effect, it would seek a change to the regulations to provide either that there would be just one claim per person, instead of one claim per piece of advice, or that all claims relating to an individual be submitted at the same time.The board's chief executive, Steve Orc hard, has also signalled that non-franchised firms would be subject to more stringent control in comparison to franchised firms, which would have devolved powers in relation to the green form scheme.

The Law Society has called for a comprehensive analysis of the problem before any new measures are introduced.The number of preliminary enquiries conducted by the board's investigation section shot up in 1993/94 to 1035 from 642 the previous year.

The upsurge, says Mr Smith, is due partly to a system of shared intelligence with the Solicitors Complaints Bureau and the Law Society's monitoring unit, and also to increased general awareness of the investigation section's role.The number of cases investigated also rose, from 362 in 1992/93 to 975.

This upsurge was due to the large number of 'letters for explanation' sent to firms submitting 'questionable costs claims'.

Indeed, 836 of the 975 investigations fell within this category.Mr Smith believes that most of the suspicious green form claims reflect bad practice and procedure rather than an intention to deceive.

This is the case with most instances of backdated green forms - a practice the board is able to detect by the use of codes on forms.He is prepared to accept that solicitors intend no fraud when they replace a missing green form with a new one signed afresh by the client, but the practice is nonetheless outlawed by the legal aid regulations and, as happened with 363 firms last year, will result in a referral to the SCB.

The bureau takes no action on a first occasion but further instances may earn a rebuke from the adjudication and appeals committee.Mr Smith's experience in the six years since the investigation section was established is that a small minority of the profession, whilst not flagrantly dishonest, have 'a cavalier approach' to the green form scheme.

'They regard it as a small claim on the legal aid fund and do not take as much care as they should do in complying with the regulations.'Outside the green form scheme, Mr Smith says the introduction of standard fees for criminal work has stemmed the problem of inflated legal aid claims.While the number of investigations conducted by the five officers in Mr Smith's section has shot up, the number of convictions remains very low - a point highlighted by the Law Society as evidence that fraud is confined to a tiny minority.Last year two solicitors and a clerk were convicted and one solicitor acquitted.