Criminal legal aid lawyers have won a victory in the high court after Mr Justice Burnett ruled the Lord Chancellor acted unlawfully over duty solicitor reforms.
Burnett J held the Lord Chancellor’s decision to withhold two key reports—one from Otterburn Consulting and another from accountants KPMG—until after the consultation “so unfair as to be unlawful”, in R (on the application of the Criminal Law Solicitors Association and London Criminal Courts Solicitors Association) v Lord Chancellor [2014] EWHC 3020 (Admin).
He quashed the government’s decision to cut the number of contracts for duty solicitor work from 1,600 to 525, and advised that a fresh consultation take place. However, the first tranche of 8.75% fee cuts, which were introduced in March, will stay in place as it is “unrealistic” that a different decision would have been reached on the phased introduction of legal aid fees.
