Clash of the clans

Jon Robins looks at the tribulations of the pilot public defender solicitors office in Scotland

As the Legal Service Commission continues interviewing for the first six public defenders, north of the border the Public Defender Solicitors Office (PSDO) has been up and running for two years.

The pilot initiative reports next month to the Scottish Executive and a decision as to its long-term future will be made two years after that.

'The biggest problem in the first year was the very strained relationship between this office and local private solicitors,' says Alistair Watson, director of the PSDO, which currently employs five solicitors.

The situation has 'improved immeasurably' since the compulsory referral scheme was abolished in July.

It had required that defendants born in a specific two-month period of the year were represented by the office.

The freedom to chose a legal representative has been identified by the Law Society of England and Wales as one its chief concerns about the Salaried Defence Service.

Mr Watson comments: 'It's a bigger deal for us as solicitors than for a lot of clients who in a lot of walks of lives - like with the National Health Service - accept that they are sent in a particular direction.'

Solicitors in England and Wales are concerned that the experiences of the public defender will be used to peg their rate of pay.

'I don't think there is any point shirking from the fact that it will provide information for those who regulate costs,' he says.

However he acknowledges that the office, with a staff of five solicitors, is unlikely to deliver massive savings in its pilot stage.

According to Mr Watson, the 'bottom line' is that the PDSO is a non-profit making organisation which offers different focus to the independent lawyer.

He argues that the role of a public defender 'almost creates a business pressure' to address ways of assisting clients in terms with their problems.

He cites the work his team does with a voluntary organisation to help the unemployed back into jobs.

'I'm not a social worker, and it's important that we as solicitors don't pretend to be social workers,' he says.

'But nonetheless we're people with a confidential relationship with a client group and often the only people aware of the problems some of them have.'