Unleashed | Time to take action

The 2 April was supposed to be the end of the world as we knew it. LASPO came in the front door and legal aid slunk out of the back door.

Was it going to be a 'big bang' or just something of a whimper. Legal Aid lawyers all over the land were having to deal with new forms (no problem there; that happens regularly), huge limitations in scope (well we have been there before), different eligibility rules and having to say a very firm "no" rather more than we are used to.

That was the difficult bit. Saying no. Not only refusing to see a client but in some instances not even knowing where to sign-post or refer them.

Certainly when contemplating a career in the law I had always wanted to work for the underprivileged. No city desk for me. I realised (even 35 years ago) that there was a difference between working for Herbert Smith and a small high street firm. The main part of that difference was the size of the pay-packet. But despite my firm only paying me a miserly 30 a week as an articled clerk (as we were then rather strangely called) I had a grand old time advising clients, representing them in Court and finding a solution to their woes whatever they happened to be.

It was the time of the 'green form'. Clients came into the office and we saw them and, more often than not, we solved their problems. I was a general practitioner, specialising in nothing, but doing a heady mix of crime, immigration, domestic violence injunctions, PI and landlord tenant.

The hours were long. The partner that was teaching me (I suppose he would be classified as a supervisor in modern day speak), often kept me in the office until midnight. I used to see clients at the weekend and if a homeless client was not being helped by the local authority I would put him/her up in a spare room at my modest lodgings. This was a very different world to post-LASPO England.

I have been saying "no" to people with modest housing difficulties and in particular those with a straight forward need to divorce. That on the face of it seems no big-deal but if you are not good with forms getting divorced can be a particularly difficult process. Staying in a relationship that has broken down can be the formula for violence, unhappy children and social services intervention. Similarly what is 'modest' disrepair? How much water must be pouring through the ceiling before the Ministry of Justice is happy for legal aid to be granted? Housing difficulties cause problems with health, problems with employment and all of this has a cost. Sorting out these problems will probably save money in the long run.

So what of the effect on my firm in these early days? Not a great deal really. Financially the effects of LASPO have not yet trickled through. Suffice it to say that I am well aware that the full violence of the LASPO reforms will impact upon us financially probably within a year's time.

The legal profession is having a tough time of it. LASPO, Jackson and the soon to be introduced criminal tendering will have a dramatic effect upon the legal landscape as we know it. I suspect that somewhere in the region of 2,000 firms and organisations won't make it out the other side of Christmas 2014.

Now is the time to plan for the future. Get that edge on your competitors. Market yourself, push your customer service, network and impress the market place. This is not a time to stand still. It is a time for action. We have some breathing space but must not only be aware of the LASPO cuts but also other threatened legal aid cuts to public law children work, experts and housing.

We are talking Galapagos here. Darwin and the survival of the fittest. Only the very clever finches survived.

My guess is that a firm with an adorable black Labrador has an edge on the competition and, for us, Cosmo will make the difference.

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