Family values

Jeremy Woodford expressed concern about the development of a second tier of the Law Society's family law panel (see [2001] Gazette, 12 April, 14).I share his disappointment that panel members receive only the 10% increase the Lord Chancellor allowed for all family legal aid work, and that they were not awarded the additional guaranteed enhancements.

The Society pressed the Lord Chancellor on this issue.Nevertheless, it is not correct that membership of the panel has no value.

In setting up the panel, the Law Society's Council determined that the panel members should be expected to demonstrate overall general competence in areas of family law and practice.

The government has accepted that panel members do achieve this standard, and the Legal Services Commission recognises it as an appropriate standard for supervisors in family law work.Whatever our disagreements about the Lord Chancellor's approach to the panel, the Society must deal with the situation as it is now, rather than as we would wish it to be.

The Lord Chancellor has confirmed that family law members joining an agreed second tier would qualify for higher rate payments.Therefore, the Society considers that it is imperative, in the interests of the profession, that a second tier should be developed as rapidly as possible, to enable those members achieving that standard to receive the higher rates.The Society recognises the importance of the Legal Services Commission's role in securing quality on behalf both of publicly funded clients and the government.

It is an aim which the Society shares.

The commission will be heavily involved in advising the Lord Chancellor on payment issues.

It is right that the Society should work with the commission rather than against it on this issue, which is of such crucial importance to family lawyers.John Appleby, chairman, Law Society's Family Law Panel Review Group