A well-known immigration solicitor is to issue judicial review proceedings challenging accreditation exams that could cut out more than a third of immigration practitioners from publicly funded work, it emerged this week.

Ben Hoare, partner at Ben Hoare Bell in Sunderland, said he had been left with no alternative but to launch the action against the Legal Services Commission (LSC), which set up the accreditation scheme together with the Law Society, after it had refused to compromise over the exams.


LSC figures reveal that 35% of practitioners have failed the exams so far and he claimed this showed the real aim of the scheme is to reduce a perceived over-supply of advisers, rather than lifting standards.


Mr Hoare, who has had to re-sit the exam after failing one paper, said the process was unfair to experienced practitioners who have not sat an exam for years, with many failing because of poor exam technique rather than lack of knowledge. All solicitors who wish to practise legal aid immigration work must pass the exams by April.


Mr Hoare claimed that solicitors should receive some feedback on why they had failed. He said: 'People are losing their livelihoods. If the aim is to improve standards, why are candidates not given any individual feedback on why they failed, to help them to re-sit?'


An LSC spokesman said it would be inappropriate to comment given the potential legal action against it.


Law Society chief executive Janet Paraskeva said: 'The purpose of the scheme is to ensure that people who need help with immigration and asylum, who tend to be a very disadvantaged and vulnerable group of clients, receive proper service and quality advice.


'The Society is monitoring the scheme and - as with all accreditation schemes - will in due course review its operation. However, the principle of ensuring that clients get the quality of advice they are entitled to expect is paramount.'