By Catherine Baksi


Criminal defence solicitors across England and Wales are set to stage a 48-hour protest this week over impending legal aid reforms, as even the largest firms - which were expected to have most to gain from the shake-up - said the plans would put them out of business.



During the strikes, planned for 15 and 16 February, solicitors in areas including London, Leeds, the south coast, east Dorset, and Cardiff will not represent clients in court or at the police station. In some areas the duty solicitor rota will also remain uncovered.



Roger Peach, president of the Criminal Defence Solicitors Union, said: 'This is a large demonstration of the anger that solicitors feel about the potential devastation of the criminal justice system. If there isn't some limited disruption to the court process now and the Legal Services Commission's (LSC) proposals go ahead, there will be a greater amount of disruption in the future. Solicitors see this action as the lesser of two evils.'



Law Society chief executive Desmond Hudson said: 'It is difficult to recall any other issue generating so much strength of feeling among solicitors as the current set of changes to legal aid. We share our members' alarm and grave concerns. The concept of access to justice irrespective of the means to pay is at stake.'



He added: 'Many legal aid solicitors feel they have been abused for too long by the government. No one should be surprised by their frustration or determination.'



However, the Law Society also posted a statement on its website warning practitioners of the competition issues surrounding collective action.



In a joint statement, the Department for Constitutional Affairs and the LSC said the action would harm the interests of defendants, victims and the court. They added that while some delays may occur, staff in the criminal justice agencies would work hard to keep disruption to a minimum.



The strike action is being taken over plans to introduce fixed fees and best value tendering in criminal defence work, as well as the way means testing has been reintroduced.



Lord Carter, whose report into legal aid procurement led to the reforms, had predicted that large firms would enjoy improved profitability - despite fee reductions - due to economies of scale.



However, Brian Craig, chairman of the Association of Major Criminal Law Firms, said this week that many large firms are already making a loss from general criminal work and - with the reduction in the volume of work, due to the reintroduction of means testing and changes in police charging policies - thinking of down-sizing.



'Larger firms will be the first against the wall, as our overheads are bigger - unless there is a greater volume of work,' he said.



The LSC meanwhile launched consultations on the details of its Criminal Defence Service (CDS) reforms, including new police station boundaries, the creation of a panel to handle very high-cost criminal cases (VHCC), and an expanded role for CDS Direct in providing telephone advice to all clients detained in police stations for minor offences.



LSC chief executive Carolyn Regan said the reforms were 'designed to benefit clients by ensuring they receive the high-quality advice they are entitled to, benefit criminal defence service providers by allowing them to plan their business with greater confidence and benefit taxpayers by ensuring public funds are spent in a cost-effective manner.'



Commenting on the VHCC plans, Richard Miller, director of the Legal Aid Practitioners Group, said: 'There are two fundamental aspects missing - the prices and how the LSC will forecast demand. The proposals are ill-thought-out, incomplete and not in a state suitable for consultation with the view to drafting any sort of scheme in the time proposed.'



In relation to the new boundaries and fixed fees for police station attendance, Mr Miller said the LSC has listened to some of the problems the profession highlighted, and the overall structure made more sense than it did previously.