LSC puts brake on rate row

Criminal law solicitors and the Legal Services Commission (LSC) this week called a truce in their bitter struggle over the issue of mileage rates, after the LSC agreed that payments awarded to criminal and civil practitioners should be equalised.The development followed 'fruitful discussions' with the Law Society, Criminal Law Solicitors Association (CLSA) and London Criminal Courts Solicitors Association (LCCSA).Last month, the CLSA and LCCSA were given the go-ahead by the High Court to bring a judicial review of the LSC (see [2001] Gazette, 6 September, 1).The associations this week dropped the application after LSC chief executive Steve Orchard said he would urge the Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine, to set criminal practitioners' rates at 45p a mile, up from the 36p they are currently allowed to claim back.Mr Orchard said: 'We recognise there is an anomaly that needs to be put right and we will recommend that the Lord Chancellor does that from 1 April 2002, if it is affordable within the overall provision of legal aid.'CLSA vice-chairman Rodney Warren said he hoped that settlement of the issue would improve relations between the association and the LSC.

'Because we negotiated and talked with [the LSC] over this issue, we hope that other matters can be resolved amicably in the future, and at an earlier stage,' he said.Legal Aid Practitioners Group director Richard Miller said the 'symbolic' nature of the practitioners' triumph far outweighed its financial value.'Many criminal practitioners had come to see it as emblematic of what they see as unfair treatment at the hands of the LSC,' he explained.

'I am delighted that the commission has accepted that the rates should be synchronised with those for civil and Crown Court work.'Law Society President David McIntosh welcomed the agreement and said 'we very much hope the Lord Chancellor will give his agreement'.

Paula Rohan