Tag Results
QASA “to go ahead as planned” this month despite government climbdown over tendering
Friday, 6 September 2013The government’s decision to drop the idea of price competitive tendering for criminal defence work is definitive proof that there is no link with the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates, which is going ahead as planned, the Bar Standards Board said yesterday.
Tags: bar standards board, criminal law, price competitive tendering, QASA, Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates
Posted in Barristers, Latest news
SRA targets three-month approval for ABSs aimed at new criminal legal aid contracts
Friday, 19 July 2013The Solicitors Regulatory Authority should be able to process would-be alternative business structures wanting to bid for the new criminal legal aid ‘super-contracts’ in as little as three months, it has told MPs. The Bar Standards Board was more cautious about its regulation, however.
Tags: bar standards board, legal aid, price competitive tendering, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Alternative business structures, Latest news
Minister tells lawyers to adapt to the “hard facts” of life
Friday, 12 July 2013The legal profession needs to face up to “some hard facts” – including an oversupply of lawyers – that go beyond government plans for legal aid reform, justice minister Lord McNally warned yesterday.
Tags: criminal law, legal aid, price competitive tendering
Posted in Latest news, Market monitor
Grayling starts to give way on legal aid reform and agrees to “managed market consolidation”
Monday, 1 July 2013The Ministry of Justice today showed the first sign of cracking under the weight of pressure over its plans to reform criminal legal aid, with the Lord Chancellor ditching the plan to end client choice of solicitor.
Tags: legal aid, price competitive tendering
Posted in Latest news, Market monitor
Deloitte warns government: ABSs are not the solution to criminal legal aid reform
Wednesday, 5 June 2013The viability of using alternative business structures as a means to offer criminal legal services under the government’s price competitive tendering scheme is questionable, a report by consultants Deloitte has warned.
Tags: ABS, Alternative business structures, legal aid, price competitive tendering
Posted in Alternative business structures, Latest news
BSB wades into legal aid row
Tuesday, 4 June 2013The Bar Standards Board has waded into the controversy over government plans to introduce price competitive tendering in criminal work by warning that it risks causing irreparable harm to the credibility of the criminal justice system and incentivises lawyers to encourage guilty pleas.
Tags: bar standards board, criminal law, legal aid, price competitive tendering
Posted in Barristers, Latest news
Minister tells profession to adapt to “the new circumstances” of life in the law
Tuesday, 4 June 2013Solicitors and barristers will have to adjust to “the new circumstances” they are facing as a result of legal aid and other reforms “if they are going to survive”, justice minister Lord McNally said yesterday.
Tags: legal aid, price competitive tendering
Posted in Latest news
Reform uncertainty forces new criminal law ABS to put external investment thoughts on hold
Tuesday, 21 May 2013Plans to grow a criminal legal aid firm that has just received its alternative business structure licence – potentially through external investment – are on hold pending the outcome of the government’s current reform plans, according to its head of legal.
Tags: ABS, Alternative business structures, criminal law, legal aid, price competitive tendering
Posted in Alternative business structures, Latest news, Market monitor
Unanimous South Eastern Circuit backing gives green light to QASA boycott
Monday, 20 May 2013The prospect of barristers boycotting the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates became almost certain on Saturday after all but one of more than 1,000 members of the South Eastern Circuit said they would refuse to sign up to it.
Tags: bar standards board, ILEX Professional Standards, Legal Services Board, price competitive tendering, QASA, Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Barristers, Latest news, Legal Executives, Solicitors
Consumer panel warns government against restricting choice of solicitor for legal aid clients
Monday, 20 May 2013The Legal Services Consumer Panel has strongly criticised the government’s plan to deny defendants the right to choose their own solicitor under price competitive tendering, with new data showing that legally aided clients are more likely to shop around than any other.
Tags: legal aid, Legal Services Consumer Panel, price competitive tendering
Posted in Consumer panel, Latest news