GREATER Manchester solicitors face an online bidding war for work in a pilot scheme aimed at squeezing millions out of the legal aid system.
The scheme, known as Best Value Tendering (BVT), has led to concerns over miscarriages of justice and a supermarket culture of '3 for 2' style offers.
Law firms fear the competition, which will force them to outbid each other for contracts at police stations, could drive eight out of 10 companies out of business - and those left even being forced to pay for work they want.
Franklin Sinclair, senior partner at Tuckers criminal law specialists, predicts his company, which employs 18 solicitors and 22 law clerks in Manchester, will abandon criminal law altogether if the plans to publicly auction contracts go ahead.
"If I don't take part in this bidding process, I close down, so we have no other option," said Mr Sinclair, who is chairman of Manchester Law Society courts committee.
"But I refuse to get involved in anything that involves paying zero for work - and that will happen under these current proposals. It is possible firms could even end up paying for the contracts.
We are the biggest law firm in the UK and Tuckers will have to close or abandon criminal law.
"It will be 27 years down the drain - it is so sad."
He said 10 per cent of Tuckers' income currently came from legal aid work at police stations, while making up 20pc of their workload.
The changes are being forced through by the Legal Services Commission (LSC), which wants to replace the current system of duty solicitors on fixed fee rotas with the police.
Instead, a minimum of eight law firms will win contracts to represent suspects during police interviews.
It has been branded 'reckless' by the Law Society and condemned by a range of legal organisations.
More than 100 Greater Manchester practices learn next month whether bidding will be 'sealed' (carried out privately), or run through an online auction leading to 'suicide bids' - where companies are willing to make a loss to win a contract in the hope it will lead to profitable work at a crown court.
Greater Manchester has been chosen as one of two pilot areas where bidding is due to start in October, with the scheme rolled out next year and due to go nationwide.
Manchester lawyer Brian Koffman abandoned legal aid work last year because of the impending changes, which he attacked as 'absolutely dreadful'.
"The LSC is undermining legal aid to such an extent it is going to be impossible to provide a decent service," he said, adding that firms would walk away from legal aid if they didn't go bust first.
"I have a suspicion Manchester was chosen because a lot of firms have been proactive and very successful in building up their practices. They think Manchester is over-saturated, with too many (firms).
"How can you plan your business if you can only have a maximum of one eighth of legal aid work at any police station? This is the talk among solicitors at the moment."
Rodney Warren, director of the Criminal Law Solicitors' Association, said: "It is going to badly penalise the people who need legal help and that includes witnesses and victims as well as defendants. At the moment you can go to any law firm in Manchester who will represent you.
"Manchester has got some of the brightest and best criminal law specialists in the country and they will abandon it because it won't be possible to run a business.
"This process has never been tested anywhere. There is just an optimistic view that it might work."
Carolyn Regan, chief executive of the Legal Services Commission, said: "Best Value Tendering is designed to encourage efficiency, quality and good practice and will enable more people to be helped within the resources available.
"The proposals currently being consulted on will ensure high quality services are available for clients, while obtaining the best value for taxpayers' money. They will allow providers themselves, regardless of their size and structure, to set the price for a quality, efficient and sustainable service, reflecting variations in cost in each criminal justice area. Firms will tender for the right amount of work for them to optimise their business, by bidding for work on an equal basis, with an equal chance of winning.
"No final decisions will be made regarding the introduction of BVT, the nature of the process, the timeline for pilot, and the timing and content of the pilot review until we respond to the consultation on BVT later this year."
Consultation on how the process should work ended on June 19 and results on how it will work are expected next month.
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Law firms face bidding war
June 30, 2009
Franklin Sinclair
Showing comments 1 to 4 and replies | View All
john davis (30/06/2009 at 09:21)
Mark,Radcliffe. (30/06/2009 at 09:50)
toby wilbraham (30/06/2009 at 11:34)
I am a Criminal Solicitor and have worked in the field for around 14 years. I have the following observations to make.
Legal Aid solicitors I think have milked the system in the past (or alternatively you could say have made decent profit, depending where you sit on the fence) , but this has not been the case for several years. All the Solicitors that did 'milk' the system from my perspective have now left practice or switched over to Private criminal work (mainly traffic law).
Criminal solicitors got paid years ago 'ex post facto' which meant the work they did on files got assessed. This was based on a payment scheme that generally meant payment of up to £45 / hour for preparation and attendance which was well below the private rate os around £100 plus.
The Government brought in a new payment system over the last few years (called graduated fees) that means solicitors get paid due to various criteria. This payment scheme is not hugely profitable for solicitors, with losses being made on some cases.
At present Criminal solicitors, contrary to public opinion, are not well paid. The starting salary is currently £18,000 which is below the starting salary of Police Officers (who only need sub GCSE qualifications to get in). Sure the practice managers get paid more, but the pay rise is the equivalent of any business (which the profession now is).
I have personally seen the quality of Solicitors drop over the time I have been working. There are some Solicitors that operate in the Manchester area that are barely competent. The reason for this is the old addage 'you pay peanuts, you get monkeys'.
What the Government is proposing is to cut funding even more. Best 'value' tendering. If you look through the wording 'value' is only ever used by the Government when they want to slash costs. If you slash costs more then I do think the quality of the Criminal Justice System will degenerate even more, and head towards an American public defender system.
Now its OK for you all to say 'so what' as long as it saves me some tax. But the statistics show that 1/3 males has a criminal record and one day you might find yourself, or have a relative, in Court for a complex matter with an idiot Solicitor representing you. Then you may find you will care a bit more.
ben reid (07/07/2009 at 16:52)