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17 January 2008 / David Burrows
Issue: 7304 / Categories: Features , Legal services , Procedure & practice , Profession
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The End

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Sadness and anger mark David Burrows’s decision to stop doing legal aid work

 

In September 2007 I decided that my firm could no longer do legal aid work. Mine is a small practice doing only family law work— including judicial review and professional negligence arising from family proceedings. My fee-earning staff had consisted of two fellows of the institute of legal executives (FILEX)—both had been with me nearly 10 years—working full-time on legal aid cases (mostly children proceedings); and a solicitor whose case load was about half legal aid (in terms of time spent). I have found one FILEX and her files another home—the other found her own job.

 

ACCESS TO JUSTICE?

The sorry history of legal aid since the Access to Justice Act 1999 (AJA 1999)—how sick is the euphemistic newspeak in that title?—has been rehearsed elsewhere. Things came to a head in March 2007 over a new contract which the Legal Services Commission (LSC) planned to impose on us. Judicial review applications were made, including a successful

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NEWS
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NLJ this week: No such thing as a ‘Welsh seat’
Talk of a reserved ‘Welsh seat’ on the Supreme Court is misplaced. In NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC explains that the Constitutional Reform Act treats ‘England and Wales’ as one jurisdiction, with no statutory Welsh slot
NLJ this week: Jury reform risks justice for efficiency’s sake
The government’s plan to curb jury trials has sparked ‘jury furore’. Writing in NLJ this week, David Locke, partner at Hill Dickinson, says the rationale is ‘grossly inadequate’
NLJ this week: Crypto fightback offers ‘new frontier for law’
A year after the $1.5bn Bybit heist, crypto fraud is booming—but so is recovery. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Holloway, founder and CEO of M2 Recovery, warns that scams hit at least $14bn in 2025, fuelled by ‘pig butchering’ cons and AI deepfakes
NLJ this week: Time to revive the duty to report crime?
After Woodcock confirmed no general duty to warn, debate turns to the criminal law. Writing in NLJ this week, Charles Davey of The Barrister Group urges revival of misprision or a modern equivalent
NLJ this week: When are experts truly ‘necessary’?
Family courts are tightening control of expert evidence. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Chris Pamplin says there is ‘no automatic right’ to call experts; attendance must be ‘necessary in the interests of justice’ under FPR Pt 25
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