LSC backs down in duty solicitor battle

The society issued a pre-action protocol letter to the LSC challenging the way it is consulting on changes to the original plans to award duty solicitor slots to law firms as part of its market stability measures.

A society spokeswoman says that before Easter, the LSC decided to change the new basis for duty solicitor rota allocations for 2007–08. Having decided on one option for doing this in February, it then decided to propose an alternative option and planned to allow just two weeks to consult with representative bodies.

“Following pressure from the Law Society, the LSC has conceded that its recent proposal for a further, brief consultation on market stability measures was seriously flawed. It will now conduct a full and proper consultation on the matter,” she adds.
Derek Hill, director of the Criminal Defence Service at the LSC says: “In keeping with requests from the Law Society, we will be writing to providers to ask their opinion about methods to allocate duty slots up until October. Therefore, we are extending our current consultation exercise until 17 May.”

This means, he says, that until at least the end of June duty slots will continue to be allocated on the current rotas. The old duty solicitor arrangements will apply until then.

Meanwhile, the society claimed another victory last week when the government announced plans to retain the current small claims limits of £1,000 for personal injury and housing disrepair claims.

Society chief executive, Desmond Hudson, says: “I’m pleased the government has accepted the evidence in the Law Society’s ‘Fast and Fair’ campaign that an increase in the small claims limit for personal injury cases would deprive many people injured as a result of someone else’s negligence of compensation. We agree with the government that the right approach is to improve the process for dealing with lower value cases rather than depriving people of help from a solicitor.”

The government is also proposing an increase to the fast track limit to £25,000 and the introduction of a streamlined claims process for personal injury claims under £25,000.