New legal aid pressure group leaves Law Society in cold

A new and potentially powerful legal aid pressure group made up of solicitors and barristers, and known as the National Justice Committee, appears to have left the Law Society on the sidelines.

The committee includes, on the solicitor side, the Criminal Law Solicitors Association (CLSA) London Criminal Courts Solicitors Association (LCCSA), and on the barrister side, the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) and the regional circuit leaders.

The Legal Aid Practitioners Group and the Justice Alliance, a coalition of campaign groups and trade unions, are also involved. Both organisations have played a leading role in the campaign against cuts in civil legal aid.

A Law Society spokesperson said Chancery Lane was "continuing to have discussions with the organisers of this new group" but for the time being, the Law Society would attend "as an observer".

James Parry (pictured), the Liverpool solicitor advocate responsible for last month's successful motion of no confidence in the society's leadership, said the new group was a good idea.

"What disappoints me is that the Law Society is adopting the position of an armchair general in the First World War and leading from behind," he said.

"The groups which have come together have the enthusiasm which the society sadly lacks. People have come to the conclusion that the Law Society is an irrelevance and, if you want to get a job done, you do it yourself."

Parry said the first legal aid protest, earlier this month, had demonstrated the unity of the profession, and attracted international interest from the media in Afghanistan and Canada.

He added that a "strange fog of silence" had descended on the government's criminal legal proposals, not only at Chancery Lane but at the MoJ.

One of the new committee's main tasks will be to organise the next criminal legal aid protest, expected at the end of February after justice secretary Chris Grayling announces his decision.

Bill Waddington, chairman of the CLSA, told Solicitors Journal earlier this month that the CLSA and LCCSA were planning another protest, this time lasting a whole day.

In a statement, the National Justice Committee said: "Building on our unified protest of 6 January, a national campaign committee to defend our justice system has been set up by solicitors and barristers from all the representative bodies involved in criminal legal aid and by groups representing those affected by the attacks on civil legal aid; LAPG and the Justice Alliance.

"This committee notes the devastating effects of legal aid cuts and restrictions in social welfare law, family law and immigration law. This committee opposes all further legal aid cuts and proposals to weaken the ability of the ordinary citizen to challenge unlawful decision making which will diminish our social fabric by reducing access to justice.

"Before implementing cuts and restrictions which this committee believe can be shown to be unnecessary and counterproductive, simply shifting costs on to another part of the state budget, we urge the Lord Chancellor to engage fully with the committee.

"We can provide evidence to prove that the cuts do not equal savings and that the savings sought can be achieved without cuts. We hope for constructive engagement with the Lord Chancellor and his officials so that at the end of this process we have a justice system fit for purpose and fair and open to all."