Time for research and reflection

An unreasonably strict timetable to implement the new regime combines with a bureaucracy that would leave Kafka reeling

The Legal Services Commission's criminal contracting scheme had a difficult birth, with wrangling between the LSC and criminal practitioners' groups.

Only an eleventh hour deal created an uneasy pact between the parties.A few months post-birth and the scheme is again causing controversy.

Contracted firms maintain that the commission has imposed unrealistic billing targets, which the chairman of the Law Society's criminal law committee has described as being 'plucked out of thin air'.Practitioners also say the commission has created an unreasonably strict timetable for implementation of the new regime which, combined with a bureaucracy that would leave Franz Kafka reeling, has conspired to create cash flow problems that could possibly push some solicitors' firms to the financial brink.We must assume the LSC would not relish that outcome.

As was illustrated by last spring's negotiations over the remuneration rates to be included in the contracts, it is possible for common sense to prevail and agreement to be reached.

The senior officials at the LSC may be hard bargainers, but they have proved they are prepared to reach for practical solutions.What is needed now is an interim solution that will allow, as Chancery Lane's criminal law committee suggests, researchers to assess the impact of what have been profound changes.