Vital statistics: legal aid survey

If forced to pick a headline figure for the survey, it would probably have to be the suggestion that almost two thirds of legal aid lawyers will either give up or reduce publicly funded work as a result of the ten per cent cut in fees alone.

While perhaps not an immediate eye-popper, it does demonstrate the miniscule margins firms are dealing with when it comes to legal aid funding.

It seems a particular downer when you consider those surveyed fall into no particular legal aid pigeon hole. The respondents range from lawyers at firms where less than ten per cent of annual fees come from the MoJ's coffers to lawyers whose firms rely on public money for more than 50 per cent. And here the distribution is fairly even '“ an equal number of people work at either end of the spectrum, with many (42 per cent) falling in the middle, working for public fees of between ten and 50 per cent.

So for 62 per cent of people to say they will either stop or reduce legal aid work because of this ten per cent cut is perhaps as bad as the gloomiest forecasts. For those at the thinner end of the wedge, you can imagine it may just not be worth the hassle any more. But for those earning more than 30 per cent '“ at least if you were wearing Djanogly's goggles '“ you may predict firms would strive to soldier on.

Of course, the results reveal widespread disapproval of the green paper. While 80 per cent of legal aid lawyers said they were against the cuts in general, another 84 per cent of the 200 who answered thought it unfair that civil legal aid will bear the brunt of the cuts.

But, then again, this leaves a mysterious one in five lawyers actually in favour of the green paper. It has been whispered by some that firms desperate to win the post-cuts legal aid contacts are stifling employee criticisms as well as their own to keep on the good side of the purse holder. Or perhaps this fifth in favour simply see themselves as realists. Whatever the case, there is just enough support there to keep a Gaddafi happy.

The results certainly suggest a whiff of the colonel's glass half full approach. Despite the aforementioned answers, nearly three quarters of people said they did not expect their firm would have to make redundancies as a result of the proposals. So just under one quarter are resigned to the fact that with the cuts come great likelihood of redundancies.

'Will we have to consider redundancies? It is too early to tell how the legal aid cuts are going to impact on our firm in the longer term,' says Peter Todd, a partner at Hodge Jones & Allen, where between 30 and 50 per cent of the income comes from publicly funded clients.

'Ideally we would prefer to avoid redundancies, and would look initially at redeploying staff into other areas of the practice.' But, while the jobs may stay, he is one of the ones who is clear the work cannot.

'If legal aid fee rates were cut by ten per cent we would definitely have to seriously consider cutting back on the legal aid work that we undertake,' continues Todd. 'We have already stopped handling a range of legal aid work around mental health, welfare benefits and employment, because it is simply no longer profitable.

'In the event that other areas, such as childcare proceedings, also become unprofitable, we may be forced to stop providing these services to legal aid clients as well.'

The survey also sheds light on a less cut and dry suggestion ploughed through by the MoJ '“ that of creaming off success fees from legally aided clients and piping it back into the piggy bank via the frontline firms.

Here, a strong majority are dead against. While 68 per cent reject the idea in principle, even more '“ 75 per cent '“ dispute the MoJ's suggestion that it would encourage firms to take on more legal aid work.

And perhaps the result which begs the most questions is on the Legal Services Act. How many think these new beasts will plunge into the legal aid market? Just 42 per cent are scared of that one.

'While we understand the government is having to make cuts, the effect this reform will have is worrying,' concludes Dan Watkins, director of Contact Law.

'As the results of this survey show, the proposals are deeply unpopular among solicitors and are likely to result in fewer firms offering legal aid work. It's clear that these cuts will have an impact on access to justice.'