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Legal aid will soon go way of NHS dentistry
• YOUR campaigning newspaper was kind enough to report on the demonstration by lawyers outside Parliament against legal aid changes, which threaten the viability of publicly funded access to justice (Greg in legal aid cut battle, March 23).
Martin Seel, the London director of the Legal Services Commission (LSC), was invited by me to attend that rally, or the picket outside Highbury court.
He did not attend, or even reply, but he did use your letters page to try to rebut the assertion that there will be cuts in real terms (Legal aid budget safeguarded, March 30).
This is the line peddled by his political paymaster, Vera Baird, the legal aid minister, but as a public servant I am surprised Mr Seel does not strive for a more impartial approach.
The reality is that, like NHS dentists, legal aid lawyers will soon be a thing of the past.
The government’s proposed reforms will lead to the collapse of most small, independent legal aid practices, and this could start in inner-city London boroughs such as ours where rates are low but overheads high.
The dangers are realised even in the Legal Services Commission’s own research, in the Otterburn report, which it tried to suppress but belatedly appears on its website.
GREG FOXSMITH
Solicitor, Shearman Bowen and Co, EC1 |
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