BLOW TO AMBITIONS
Under the new criminal contracting arrangements membership of local police station and magistrates' courts rotas is now a matter for the Legal Services Commission.Before their demise, three local duty solicitor committees removed me from membership of their police station advice rotas.
This followed a decision - endorsed by a regional committee - to make membership of their rotas conditional upon membership of their magistrates' court rota.As the geographical requirements for membership of the latter were more restrictive than those of the former, the result was that inside 11 months, 75% of my practice's criminal legal aid income vanished.
As a sole practitioner, I was unable to meet the magistrates' court membership requirement that I work mainly from an office in the towns in question or be deemed 'reasonably accessible' (undefined) to them.Under this policy now in the duty solicitor arrangements 2001, provincial police station rotas were reduced in size with corresponding benefits to practices retaining membership by way of increased call-outs.
The policy benefited larger local criminal practices able to comply with the linking requirement by relocating admitted staff to neighbouring towns.When I qualified, it was in the expectation that I would be free to develop my potential as a criminal lawyer in a competitive environment.
Much to my surprise, I find the greatest obstacle to that ambition originates from my profession.Alexander McCulloch, McCullochs, Crawley, West Sussex
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