Legal aid practitioners are gearing up to wage war on the Legal Services Commission (LSC) over its plans to introduce competitive tendering for criminal work - and the drive could include strike action, they have warned.

The revolt came after last week's Law Society Council meeting, where members voted almost unanimously against LSC plans to introduce tendering. They argued that the emphasis on saving money would impact on access to justice and the quality of advice and representation.


The LSC is consulting on tendering for police station advice and assistance and representation in the magistrates' court in London from January 2006. It insists quality will not be sacrificed.


Speaking after the council meeting, Law Society chief executive Janet Paraskeva said the vote reflected widespread fears among the profession. 'We will be asking the LSC to address these concerns fully and to convince us that access to justice will not be compromised by a move towards competitive price tendering,' she said.


Criminal Law Solicitors Association (CLSA) director Rodney Warren said it understood the LSC's objectives but believed there was a fairer way of achieving them. 'We are implacably opposed to the concept of competitive tendering, given the already restricted market that operates and which has been created by contracting and other regulations,' he said.


Rob Brown, immediate past president of the London Criminal Court Solicitors Association, said: 'There is no evidence that this will work and a significant risk that it will fail - and if it does, the criminal defence network in London will be destroyed, and that will be irreversible.'


Many solicitors around the country were now talking about industrial action as a way of making their views known, he said. 'It may end up that that's what happens if the LSC insists on pushing this through in the face of such opposition,' he warned.


Danny Simpson, a partner at Sheffield firm Howells, commended the council for making a stand. 'I would expect that criminal defence practices in Sheffield will work together to protect legal services in the area,' he added. 'We will support any action proposed by practitioner groups.'



A series of meetings will be held during the coming weeks to enable solicitors to voice their concerns, including a rally on 15 April, and the CLSA and other groups are urging all legal aid solicitors - both criminal and civil - to attend.


But a defiant LSC said it was still committed to tendering. Executive service design director Jonathan Lindley said: 'Competitive tendering will bring benefits to both clients and the providers of criminal legal aid services and lead to the creation of a more sustainable legal aid system for the future.'