It is 5.55pm on Friday. It is dark outside and I want to go home. Next job on the pile is to read the latest from the LSC - a nine-page missive called 'Legal aid reform - The next steps'. Having read it, I want to weep. Does anyone, except the LSC and its army of jargon creators, really believe that what it is doing will 'deliver quality access and value for money, ensuring the future sustainability of services for the people who need them'? I am a generous soul and I suppose I have to accept that the staff really do believe this. Those of us on the high street have a different view.


This morning, we had the latest of our office meetings to discuss whether we can carry on with our contract. It is all very well the LSC wanting to 'ensure we pay for the work completed rather than the hours worked'. Under the new fixed-fee regime, the reality is that we are forced to carry out hundreds of pounds of work for the fixed fee of £94. The fact that the fee is fixed does not mean there is less work to do. This is unsustainable.



We have already given up all our mental health and criminal work - areas where we had a thriving practice for many years. Sooner or later, we will have to stop all legal aid work, as have many of our competitors, which will help the LSC achieve its real goal. This is to squeeze legal aid so hard that the number of firms is reduced to a small number of 'factories', willing or able to deal with endless signposting of 'stakeholder outcome key performance indicator' initiatives and the like, whether or not they have the slightest ability to provide decent legal advice. There used to be five firms doing criminal and mental health work in Bodmin. Now there is one of each. In due course, there will be none and the LSC will have realised the inevitable consequence of its policies. Perhaps it will be the only one who is surprised.



Daniel Sproull, Sproull Solicitors, Bodmin