Legal aid chiefs 'favouring public solicitors'

Published on Friday 20 March 2009 19:31

SCOTLAND'S legal aid bosses were accused yesterday of an abuse of power by increasing the workload of public solicitors at the expense of those in private practice.

A plan for the sheriff and district courts in Glasgow could see a doubling of the business undertaken by the city's Public Defence Solicitors' Office (PDSO).

However, angry private sector lawyers claimed the real reason they would lose out on legal aid work was not to save public money but to give under- employed PDSO solicitors more to do.

The Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) rejected the allegations and opposed a bid by members of the Glasgow Bar Association to win an interim interdict to stop the plan from being implemented.

Lady Stacey was asked to grant the order at the Court of Session in Edinburgh, but the case was not concluded and will be continued next week.

The court heard that SLAB operated "duty plans" at courts throughout Scotland, under which solicitors, on a rota basis, were paid to provide representation for accused people when they first appeared charged with an offence.

In Glasgow, historically, solicitors on the duty plan could expect to have at least two weeks per year as a nominated lawyer in the sheriff or district court. In recent years, private solicitors had faced competition from public defence lawyers, who were employed by SLAB.

The Glasgow PDSO had two solicitors, and Lady Stacey was told they had received more slots under duty plans, reaching ten weeks in 2008. The 2009 plan, revealed this month, more than doubled their slots, to 21 weeks.