Proposed changes to the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) codes of practice will remove the right of detained clients to speak to their own solicitor in some cases, the Law Society has warned.


In response to a Home Office consultation on proposed changes to the codes, including Code C which relates to the provision of legal advice at the police station, Chancery Lane said it was unable to approve the arrangements because of concerns about the plans and insufficient information from the Legal Services Commission (LSC).



The consultation was prompted by the LSC's move to expand its telephone advice service - CDS Direct - to cover 'own client' work, which will mean that for designated offences, a detained person will only be directed to the CDS Direct adviser.



Changes to PACE are also necessary to enable the LSC to bring in its plan to expand the remit of the Defence Solicitor Call Centre (DSCC) (formerly the Duty Solicitor Call Centre), so that all requests for advice from a solicitor will be routed through the call centre.



Law Society President Andrew Holroyd said: 'The proposed changes have the potential to remove the client's choice of solicitor for the duration of the investigations stage both in those matters covered by CDS Direct and, on a random basis, for any client arrested for a more serious matter if the call centre happens to be unable to contact the chosen solicitor.'



Catherine Baksi