Lawyers in 'final showdown' over legal aid

The Master of the Rolls will today consider the legality of the Lord Chancellor's reforms to criminal legal aid, in what practitioners have referred to as 'the final showdown'.

Commenting ahead of the hearing, Jonathan Black, president of the London Criminal Courts Solicitors' Association (LCCSA) said: 'This appeal is a final bid to defend proper, quality legal aid representation in police stations and magistrates' courts across England and Wales. We're standing up for equal access to justice at the core of our criminal justice system.'

In February, the Law Society, Criminal Law Solicitors' Association (CLSA) and the LCCSA lost their High Court challenge against the Lord Chancellor's decision to forge ahead with two-tier contracts for criminal legal aid.

However, Lord Justice Moore-Bick, sitting in the Court of Appeal, agreed to hear a challenge to a High Court ruling and to continue the suspension of the tender process for 527 duty provider contracts that was put in place in December.

Granting the appeal, Moore-Bick LJ said that the Master of the Rolls, Lord Dyson, was 'interested in this case', and suggested the appeal may be heard by both him and two other lord justices.

'This has been a two year battle to fight off an ill-thought out, ideological programme of destruction which will give rise to dangerous legal advice deserts in London and other parts of the country,' added Black. 'A programme which promotes "pile em high, sell em cheap" warehouse style justice and will kill off thousands of dedicated high street solicitor firms who provide a proper defence to people irrespective of wealth and means.

'This is the last chance to maintain a system where anyone and everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty and miscarriages of justice are kept to a minimum. Quite simply, it's the final showdown.'

John van der Luit-Drummond is legal reporter for Solicitors Journal