Falconer gets tough on legal aid fees

The lord chancellor has robustly backed plans to cut the legal aid bill in the face of strong opposition from lawyers.

Lord Falconer was on Tuesday set to unveil reforms to the way lawyers are paid in publicly financed cases, which could drive hundreds of solicitors out of the field.

And interviewed in the Times newspaper ahead of the announcement, he acknowledged that "there is considerable concern about this".

However he said that "they've just got to knuckle down and work out how it will work in practice".

"I am absolutely clear that there will be no more money," he added.

"I do want it - I can't get it. I'm not in a different position from any of my colleagues. We've got to accept what the legal parameters are."

The overhaul of the legal aid aims to stem the growing costs of the scheme which has seen the yearly bill rise from £1.5bn in 1997 to today's £2.1bn.

Lord Carter's review predicted that 400 small law firms would be forced to merge or go out of business as a result.

The peer said in July: "The existing system does permit people to make unreasonably large amounts of money. We believe the new system can find ways to constrain that."

The proposals aim to cut the criminal legal aid bill by £100m over the next five years and put a stop to some lawyers earning £1m per year from the public purse, redirecting the money to civil law work.

Solicitors would need to bid competitively for legal aid work and the reforms hope to cut the total for criminal work by 20 per cent over four years.

The solicitors' professional body, the Law Society, has mounted a campaign to oppose the reforms, and predicts a "winter of discontent," saying its members will respond "with their feet."

It has called "a special general meeting in January, the first in five years, which is a measure of their feeling," a spokesman for the body said.

Lord Falconer admitted that reform was "never going to be easy".

However he added: "If we don't do it, there won't be a thriving profession able to serve the needs of those who most need lawyers' help.

"But I am absolutely committed to going through the difficult period now and I urge solicitors to join with me.

"I don't think there is an option. We are absolutely committed to getting Carter."