It is safe to say much of Ken Clarke's Valentine's haul was made up of love letters to another. Legal aid has got lawyers' hearts a flutter with yesterday marking the closure of the consultation into what the MoJ openly admits is to be the biggest shakedown of the system since its inception 60 years ago.
The Department for Work and Pensions cannot recover welfare benefit payments through the courts where the claimant is not at fault, the Supreme Court has ruled.
Publishing details of complaints handled by the legal services ombudsman is attracting growing support, with 82 per cent of respondents to an instant poll carried out following an evidence session in the House of Lords voting in favour.
The green paper post-mortem paints a bleak picture of what civil legal aid provision will look like if the MoJ gets its way. For firms intent on continuing to provide legal aid services, the proposed ten per cent fee cut will slice such a large chunk off their thin profit margins that their very existence will be in question, possibly leaving only large volume suppliers in that space. Some sectors are already predicting that practices will have to turn away half of their clients, making substantial restructures, redundancies and closures a distinct possibility. So, as firms begin to digest the details of the coalition's consultation on legal aid cuts, the worst hit offer a snapshot of what their services may look like come the revolution.