Now family lawyers threaten to strike
9 Oct 06
Association to discuss legal aid boycott over "uneconomic" rates
Scotland's family lawyers are threatening to boycott legal aid cases as anger mounts over low rates of pay for legal aid work.
The move could mean children and victims of domestic abuse being unrepresented in court in what are often difficult and sensitive cases.
Family lawyers feel they have been hard hit by the current block fee system of civil legal aid payments, which does not reward the lengthy negotiations common in such cases. Firms have been withdrawing from taking on legal aid cases and in some parts of the country it is difficult to find a solicitor willing to act in a family case under legal aid.
Now members of the 300-strong Family Law Association will be calling at a meeting of the Association next month for a complete boycott of legal aid work.
Rachael Kelsey, chair of the Association, said there was a strong feeling among family lawyers that the situation was heading for a crisis.
A threatened boycott by criminal lawyers of cases involving alleged sex offences was called off in August after the Executive agreed to increase its offer of an interim rise in payments pending the outcome of a full review.