Duty solicitor schemes frozen

Months of tension between the Legal Services Commission (LSC) and Birmingham practitioners over duty solicitor rotas has resulted in membership of four schemes in the area being frozen, a meeting of the LSC, Law Society and local solicitors heard last week.

Problems arose in April last year, when the LSC said Birmingham-based duty solicitors could apply to the Solihull and Sandwell schemes if the travelling time between their office and the court was 20 minutes or less by public transport and cost less than 2.50.

Local solicitors slated the rules as 'arbitrary', and accused the LSC of trying to favour the Birmingham Public Defender Service office.In a letter to local firms, the LSC said it had frozen membership of the Birmingham, Solihull, Sutton Coldfield and Sandwell duty solicitor schemes following 'considerable debate among local practitioners'.

The LSC told last week's meeting that it now hopes to have the matter resolved by the end of May, following consultation with all parties involved.

Rodney Warren, chairman of the Criminal Law Solicitors Association, said that although the LSC had made some errors when devising the new rules, it now wanted to find a 'proper and acceptable' way forward.

'This was a helpful meeting because it gave local practitioners the opportunity to explain their concerns to the LSC,' he added.But local sole practitioner Raymond McVeighty, who is appealing after he was removed from the Solihull list, warned that the process must move quickly to eradicate 'unhappiness and resentment' in the area.

'Many solicitors have been on these schemes for years and to be removed by rules which are so artificial seems unfair and inequitable,' he argued.Law Society chief executive Janet Paraskeva said: 'In response to concerns expressed by law firms in the West Midlands, we welcome the decision of the Legal Services Commission to examine the way that duty solicitor work is allocated in that area.

We will continue to monitor this situation closely as any changes to the system of allocating publicly funded work must be in the best interests of clients as well as solicitors.'Paula Rohan