Law Society reacts angrily to LSC confidential meetings

27 May 2011

Practitioners will be aware that a number of exclusive meetings are taking place between the Legal Services Commission (LSC) and restricted groups of firms. The Society first became aware of these meetings via the Criminal Contract Consultative Group (CCCG) meetings in March and April this year. We raised strong objections at the time, and pointed out that it is inappropriate for a public body to hold meetings with selected providers, to discuss important issues that concern all firms undertaking legal aid work. We have written to both Carolyn Downs, chief executive of the LSC, and the lord chancellor to express these concerns.

We were assured by the LSC that there would be full transparency, and that a note of the meetings would be published on the LSC website.

The Society was invited to the London meeting held on 25 May at 19:00 the night before the meeting. However, we had heard that in the Sheffield meeting last week, attendees were expressly asked to maintain confidentiality. We could not risk being placed in that position, which would have compromised our ability to represent all our members without fear or favour. We therefore did not attend.

We now understand, however, that attendees in London were indeed requested to maintain confidentiality with regard to what was discussed at the meetings, and that reference was made at the meeting to the Ministry of Justice needing to rebalance its budget cuts in the light of the furore around Ken Clarke's sentencing plans. We are making urgent enquiries to find out what the implications of this might be for legal aid.

Read our letter to Carolyn Downs (PDF, 23kb)

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