Criminal denial

The Lord Chancellor's Department and Lord Irvine himself appear to be engaged in a display of what psychoanalysts would describe as denial.

Effective unanimity reigns among those in the publicly funded legal services sector that there is a recruitment crisis in the high streets.

Individual legal aid practitioners and their representative bodies have been sounding the alarm for some time.

The Law Society has begun to campaign on the issue.

Even the Legal Services Commission - perhaps not their natural bedfellow - has issued tentative warnings.

Indeed, this week we report on the annual review of the Public Defender Service pilot, an adjunct to the LSC.

The merits of state defenders will continue to be debated, but one message is clear from the latest report: there is a 'growing shortage of criminal defence solicitors' - a threat to the pilot's ability to offer national coverage.

However, over at the LCD, this evidence appears to amount to less than a hill of beans.

Department officials and their master are resolute in the view that legal aid firms face no difficulty in recruiting and retaining capable, keen staff.

Interestingly, the PDS report represents the third time the commission has issued a line on legal aid recruitment that is somewhat at odds with the view of the LCD, gradually ratcheting up its language with each step.

Perhaps in the run-up to his retirement next year, the trenchant old warhorse, LSC chief executive Steve Orchard, is preparing to do battle with the government over this crucial issue.

If he does, Lord Irvine will struggle to remain in denial.