1 February 2008
Whilst the Law Society is about to issue fresh proceedings and will be seeking a declaration from the court that the Legal Services Commission (LSC) has breached European law by amending the Unified Contract unilaterally, that this breach must be nullified, and that guidance be given on how the LSC should remedy the breach, it has also announced that it will be entering into talks to resolve these matters.
Des Hudson, Chief Executive of the Law Society, says:
“It may be that we and the LSC continue to have different views about the meaning of the Court of Appeal judgment we all recognise, however, we need to seize every opportunity to urgently resolve matters.
“We need to confirm the practical implications of the Court of Appeal judgment. More importantly, we, the government and the LSC need to jointly build a sustainable future for legal aid for the benefit of access to justice and practitioners.”
“We will explore every opportunity to work with the Ministry of Justice and the LSC to achieve that aim. Litigation should not be necessary."
“We would like to reach agreement about the way forward in the long term - such a goal will not fail for want of effort on our part. Firms desperately need to be able to plan for the future.”
