Disservice over pay The very first sentence of your front-page article last week says 'the Legal Services Commission (LSC) withdrew draft pay rates and other proposals three days after publishing them' (see [2000] Gazette, 23 November, 1).This is not true.

Nor is it accurate that the Law Society and the Criminal Law Solicitors Association (CLSA) 'wrestled key concessions from the LSC...

and forced the government back to the drawing board to redraft the pay rates.' In fact our discussions over the pay structure are continuing.

The proposed remuneration rates for criminal contracting were delivered to the Law Society on 17 November and have not been withdrawn.

They have since been finalised and issued in a commission consultation paper, available this week, which also sets out the commission's proposals for monthly payments under the contract.

The consultation period runs until 26 January 2001.

In publishing without regard to the facts the Gazette is doing a disservice to the many criminal practitioners who have a vital interest in the outcome of our discussions.

R Hamilton, director, policy and legal department Legal Services Commission; R Warren, chairman of the Law Society's access to justice working party