Last year,
I talked about the plans by well known truckers, Eddie Stobart, to offer the
public access to barristers.
Since that
time the initiative has proved popular, with a number of organizations and
individuals using their services, which are provided on a fixed fee basis. In November
last year I heard their legal director, Trevor Howarth speak. He actually gave
a convincing talk about their plans to revolutionise the way legal work is
done, and paid for. It is clear that this is serious competition for traditional
law firms and one which they cannot ignore.
But they
have driven into a controversy in relation to criminal legal aid work. The government
have announced highly controversial plans for competitive tendering for
contracts to do the work. Essentially it will go to those who offer to do the
work at the lowest cost. The result will be a huge reduction in the number of companies
who can act for defendants. This in turn will have an impact on a client’s
right to choose his own lawyer.
Howarth has
come out with some inflammatory comments about criminal lawyers, describing
them as - “very wounded animals ready to die”. I’ll come back to that in
a minute.
http://www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/stobart-barristers-sets-sights-criminal-legal-aid-contract
It is hard
to see how this company could successfully carry out criminal work under their
existing model. They offer access to barristers. There is far more to the work than
that. Lawyers are regularly called out to police stations at 2.00am. Now you
might see an Eddie Stobart truck on the M6 at 2.00am but you are unlikely to
see one of their barristers down at the local police station at that time of
night. To get the contract they will have to offer the whole package, which is
way beyond what they currently do. So is this just a publicity stunt? I don’t
think they can be dismissed that easily but I wonder if they have considered
the full implications.
The
government’s plans are, in any event, highly controversial and the professions
response suggests that they are anything but wounded animals waiting to die. Hundreds
of practitioners recently met in Manchester
to discuss the proposals and voice their opposition –
The Law
society has questioned the lawfulness of depriving clients of choice –
Last year I
worked with a number of criminal lawyers in Liverpool
who successfully fought off plans to make them attend court on Sundays.
From my
experience criminal lawyers are alive and well and willing to fight for their
clients. Anybody who is willing to work unearthly hours for a paltry return is
not going to lie down that easily. I don’t think that fast Eddie can be ignored
but on this particular issue they seem to have taken a wrong turn!
Nice. It's a good news though, I hope they can find new ways to revolutionize the same for better use. There are a lot of Arizona truck accident lawyer who likes this so much. Thanks for sharing your views. Have a nice day!
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