News
Criminal lawyers who quit the Court Duty Solicitor Scheme (CDSS) in protest at government plans to change fee structures, could have breached competition laws, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) says.
Following a complaint from the Legal Services Commission (LSC), the OFT has written to lawyers who signalled their intent to resign from the CDSS, saying the decision to drop the work must be taken unilaterally and not after discussion with other law firms.
The OFT letter hints that the Law Society might also be hauled over the coals for breaching the competition rules if it is found to have encouraged lawyers to quit.
It says: “An instruction or recommendation of a professional body to its members not to engage in economic activity in order to ensure that its members are paid above a certain price can fall under the Chapter 1 prohibition.”
The letter continues: “We thought it important to write to express our concern at the suggestion that meetings had taken place amongst defence solicitors in order to respond collectively to rates and calling for non-participation…To avoid the danger that the profession or any section of it might be seen to have collectively boycotted such work, it will be important to ensure that any decisions about participation… are taken by law firms acting individually rather than in concert with one another or on the advice or instruction of any association of the lawyers concerned.”
Andrew Keogh, a partner at Tuckers Solicitors, says: “This illustrates just how desperate the LSC is to keep its now discredited reform programme on track. The LSC has betrayed the profession by delivering price cuts without volume and should not be surprised that the market is reacting in this way.”
Earlier this year, criminal lawyers across the country staged a two-day strike over the proposed reforms, which will introduce competitive tendering and a new payment scheme which, according to Criminal Law Solicitors’ Association (CLSA), represents a 10% pay cut overall. This, says the CLSA, is on top of the fact that rates of pay have been frozen for 12 years, while costs have risen by 50% over the same period.
An OFT spokesperson says: “The OFT appreciates that decisions whether to participate in the scheme may have been taken on a unilateral basis and the letters were therefore intended simply to highlight the type of behaviour that may be contrary to Chapter I of the Competition Act 1998. The OFT has not opened an investigation and does not propose to take any further action at this point in time.”
