Fixed fees for certain areas of work, including aspects of family work, were introduced on 1st October 2007, with more to follow.
Legal aid pay rates have been effectively frozen for the past 10 years, with one increase allowed for specialist panel membership, which has now been abolished.
Highly experienced and respected solicitor advocates with specialist accreditation will now be paid exactly the same as unqualified paralegals and case workers for undertaking legal aid work.
According to Richard Miller, the Law Society’s legal aid manager, the Legal Services Commission has made no secret of the fact that it wants to move to a system of one legal aid contract for each area, although it may permit some subcontracting. This means just one big legal aid provider, with all other providers expected to pull out of the system. Mr Miller says the aim is to have a total of around 150 contracts nationwide.
Translated into Norfolk terms, that could mean one contract covering a combined area equivalent to King’s Lynn and West Norfolk, North Norfolk and North Cambridgeshire – although the Legal Services Commission has yet to detail its local plans.
Firms offering legal aid are expected to recruit an army of low-paid advisers, who will have access to computerised case management systems offering standard advice and letters.
The traditional model of an experienced local solicitor offering legal aid alongside private work is thought unlikely to survive in the new era.
In King’s Lynn, West Norfolk and North Cambridgeshire, most firms still offer legal aid, and the big shake up is still to come.
“So far as family legal aid is concerned, I know of only one firm who dropped out completely in April 2007 when the new contract was introduced, but many others are reviewing their options”, comments Rachel Hepworth of our family department.
“At least one firm local is not taking on more than a handful of new legally aided clients”.
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