Hard-up newcomers reject legal aid work

Recently-qualified solicitors are turning their backs on legal aid work because it has become an unprofitable burden, lawyers heard last week.

Speaking at the annual Legal Aid Practitioners Group (LAPG) conference, group chairman David Emmerson warned that the lack of financial incentives in legal aid has produced a worrying trend.

'There is a shortage of new entrants because they simply can't afford to work for legal aid firms,' he explained.

'Many of them are in debt and so they go to the City.'Conference panel member Nicola Mackintosh - a solicitor who previously brought a judicial review challenging the contracting regime - said existing legal aid firms are dropping out and few new ones are forming.

She blamed this in part on a climate of suspicion between firms and the Legal Services Commission (LSC).

'There needs to be a lot more trust, and I thought there was until I had my contract compliance audited and then it all went out the window,' Ms Mackintosh said.Law Society Council member Angus Andrew added that by 'knocking off' items submitted by firms and questioning every element of a file, audits mean legal aid work is not financially viable.

'They [the LSC] don't trust us and so we don't trust them, so we end up finding more ways of squeezing money out of the system,' Mr Andrew said.Baroness Scotland, minister for the Lord Chancellor's Department, admitted that there was a problem.

'We don't want to see a second tier in legal aid, and we are paying urgent attention to how we can address this,' she said.

A spokesman for the LSC said: '[Audits] are not a question of not trusting firms, but this is public money and it has to be properly accounted for.' He denied that there is a recruitment crisis, but added that the LSC would be keeping an eye on the situation.

However, Karen Mackay, head of the Legal Action Group, later warned that all organisations concerned must act now.

'The Law Society needs to bear this problem in mind when it revises its training framework, and the LSC should also be urgently considering what it can do to contribute to ensuring there are sufficient qualified solicitors to do these important areas of work,' she said.

By Paula Rohan