Orchard to put away legal brief

Legal Services Commission (LSC) chief executive Steve Orchard will retire in spring 2003 after serving more than 40 years in the legal arena, it was announced last week.

Mr Orchard, who has held the top job at the LSC since its creation two years ago, previously spent 11 years heading up the Legal Aid Board after working at the Lord Chancellor's Department.

He was awarded a CBE in 1999, and will be approaching his 59th birthday when he steps down.

Mr Orchard's replacement will be chosen by way of open competition this autumn.

Practitioners groups said his retirement would be a loss to the profession.

Rodney Warren, director of the Criminal Law Solicitors Association and chairman of the Law Society's access to justice committee, said Mr Orchard had served legal aid 'with huge commitment and sometimes in the face of great pressure'.

He added: 'Although we may have disagreed from time to time, he is a man to be admired and respected who I personally shall miss and who will be an impossible act to follow.'

Legal Aid Practitioners Group director Richard Miller commended Mr Orchard for listening to solicitors' points of view over the years.

'He has also demonstrated a willingness to put forward the arguments on behalf of lawyers, particularly in expressing publicly his disappointment at the government's failure to make available to him the money he required to make much- needed remuneration increases this April,' he said.

Paula Rohan