The tendering date for civil and criminal legal aid contracts has been pushed back six months to October 2010 to give the Legal Services Commission (LSC) time to finalise arrangements.
Richard Miller, Law Society head of legal aid says: “While it is disappointing for those family practitioners who were anxious to secure harmonised advocacy rates at the earliest possible opportunity, it has become clear that the LSC was unable to finish redrafting the contracts, resolve the issue of selection criteria for allocating contracts, or to finalise the tendering requirements.”
