The newly elected chairwoman of the Sole Practitioners Group (SPG) has promised to fight the government’s ‘frightening, almost sinister agenda’ on funding and regulation.

Sushila Abraham (pictured), of Surrey firm S Abraham Solicitors, told 180 delegates at the SPG’s annual conference that the group is preparing a ‘robust response’ to the government’s consultation paper on best value tendering (BVT). ‘Access to justice is the fulcrum of a just society, and if legal aid practitioners get BVT wrong, they could be out of business the next day – and there will be no coming back.’

Abraham said the government’s ‘frightening, almost sinister agenda’, informed by funding changes, the Legal Services Act and alternative business structures, meant a ‘very different legal market is on the horizon’.

She pledged to campaign for the reinstatement of conveyancers on lenders’ panels and to resist Solicitors Regulation Authority plans to require more information on applications for practising certificates.

‘The SRA wants the information to help it assess risk, but we are not confident it has the ability to make the right judgments,’ she said.

The SPG will continue to provide pastoral care, she added, and will also be starting a programme of seminars to address ‘hot issues of the day’.