tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4557883870318390507.post-60536132910450744182007-05-01T19:40:00.000+01:002007-05-01T19:59:35.320+01:00Its official. Forget the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">bleating</span> of a rattled solicitor staring down both barrels of commercial oblivion. The House of Commons Constitutional Affairs Committee has pronounced on the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">unsustainability</span> of the Carter reforms of legal aid. The full report can be found <a href="http://www.crimeline.info/caccarter.pdf">here</a>.<br /><br />The fragility of the supplier base is recognised. While the need to do something about the legal aid budget in relation to Crown Court criminal defence (and child care cases) is acknowledged the fear is that access to high quality public funded legal aid will be drastically reduced, if not wiped out, in certain areas as firms of solicitors go out of business or leave publicly funded work behind. The Committee concludes that, "Access to justice and "value for money" for publicly funded legal work, which are major considerations behind the current reform proposals, are not only about the quantity of legally aided acts, but equally about the quality, nature and adequate geographic spread of those acts of assistance ... <strong>Providing effective access to justice is a basic tenet of the rule of law and a core characteristic of the welfare state. The reform proposals must not be allowed to cause irreversible damage to the legal aid system</strong>."<br /><br />My fear is that the electorate are not sufficiently engaged with this issue for the government to heed the warnings and change track. The passing of good quality, accessible publicly funded legal services shall only be lamented when it is too late to restore all the firms that will disappear from the market place under the reforms.exlexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12002664872497513881noreply@blogger.com