Criminal law specialists have welcomed government proposals to restrict defendants' choice of legal representative.The government has proposed that defendants and suspects will have the freedom to choose any Legal Services Commission contracted defence lawyer or salaried defender from April next year.

If the defendant fails to instruct a solicitor within a week, the salaried defender or the duty solicitor's firm will continue to advise unless there is a compelling reason to switch.Under the present criminal legal aid system, a defendant can receive assistance from several separate schemes from any willing solicitor for the same offence.

Malcolm Fowler, chairman of the Law Society criminal law committee, said that the changes would be in line with the trend to restrict choice where the defendant or suspect fails to choose a lawyer through inertia after being given adequate time.

Franklin Sinclair, chairman of the Criminal Law Solicitors Association, said the changes were positive, and would improve quality of service by ensuring that duty solicitors were accredited.

Anne Mizzi