The Legal Services Commission (LSC) is currently consulting upon the provision of social welfare law in Cornwall via a community legal advice network (CLAN). This CLAN is intended to be an entity which will bid for a contract directly from the commission and will in turn look to bring together the services of private practice and others, such as Citizens Advice and Shelter, to provide the advice within the network.


How will the imposition of the network, over what all local practitioners agree is a very well-networked county, actually improve the provision of the service to the client? If I see a client who has an education law problem, I would contact a local solicitor who deals with this and make an appointment for the client. If I do not know who specialises in an area of law, I can look at the Community Legal Service or Law Society website. Under the new scheme, it seems that the network will facilitate my making the referral. But surely my phoning and making the referral is the most efficient method.



If the LSC's budget is so tight, why are they allowed to squander hundreds of thousands of pounds on pointless projects like this? It was informative that, after the meeting, LSC staff had to rush off to catch their flights to Bristol and London.



Steven Ladhams, Paul Finn Solicitors, Bude, Cornwall