Des Hudson, the Law Society’s chief executive, has added his voice to criticism of plans by the Legal Services Commission to award contracts for legal aid work in police stations by a process of best-value tendering (BVT).

In a speech to the Criminal Law Solicitors Association on Friday, Hudson described imposing tendering for criminal legal aid as ‘akin to trying to fit a square peg through a round hole’, and said the effects would be felt not just by legal aid practitioners in England and Wales but also by those who rely on their services. Hudson also accused the LSC’s consultation of misrepresenting the implementation process, which he described as ‘clearly not a pilot scheme’.

Despite assurances that pilots would be fully and comprehensively evaluated prior to any phased introduction, he said that the consultation published in March set a timetable for the entire country to be operating under BVT by July 2011.

‘This pilot scheme is clearly not a pilot scheme. It is barely a testing ground of any kind, but instead the first part of a four-stage phased implementation process.’

Lord Bach, the legal aid minister, also addressed the conference, the theme of which was Sixty Years of Legal Aid – A Cause for Celebration?