Telephone pilot: launch date shelved over concerns about non-lawyer police station advice


The Legal Services Commission (LSC) has been forced temporarily to shelve its plans for a telephone advice service in criminal proceedings after solicitors protested that it was acting illegally.


The LSC had planned to pilot Criminal Defence Service (CDS) Direct from next month, with a view to employing accredited police station representatives - including non-lawyers - to provide telephone advice for clients in the police station through a call centre. However, the commission has had to put its plans on hold after it emerged that it would have to apply for a waiver from the Law Society to run such a scheme.


An LSC spokesman admitted: 'The Law Society has raised some new concerns regarding the operation of CDS Direct at a late stage in our planning. The LSC and the Law Society have agreed to discuss these issues further and, as a result, the implementation date for CDS Direct of 2 May 2005 may slip by a short period.'


Helen Cousins, a member of the Law Society's criminal law committee and chairwoman of the Criminal Law Solicitors Association (CLSA), said there were elements of the LSC's plans that did not gel with the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, which specifies a right to advice from a qualified solicitor when people are arrested. 'CDS Direct is of great concern to the CLSA,' she added. 'No matter how it is dressed up, it is bound to be of reduced quality and will provide a lesser service to the public.'


Richard Miller, director of the Legal Aid Practitioners Group, said he was not surprised that the legality of the scheme had come under scrutiny. He argued: 'It is the responsibility of the LSC to make sure that any scheme it wishes to introduce is lawful and in accordance with the requirements of the profession's regulator and statute law.'