It seems that the entire legal profession – solicitors, barristers, and social welfare advocates alike – opposes the Coalition’s reforms to legal aid, arguing that jobs will be lost, firms will close, lawyers will earn less, and the rule of law will be undermined. Under the Coalition’s watch, the extent of legal aid for civil proceedings has already been limited; now, the Government proposes to reduce it still further, by:
- introducing competitive tendering for publicly funded criminal defence work,
- reducing the fees payable by the state to private lawyers for legal aid work, and
- restricting the types of work and classes of claimants eligible for legal aid.
Very few have come out in support of the Government, and those who have point to the system’s significant costs, arguing that the only problem with the budget cuts is that they “don’t go far enough.” They assert that “we’ve let a small group of not particularly gifted people monopolise the legal control of… routine, if crucial, acts” some of which, they maintain, only requires an online form and some simple instructions. In the hands of high street lawyers, it is argued, this results in a “staggering waste of money.” This is, however, the minority view.
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