The regulator expressed serious concerns about a number of proposals including:

  • Competitive tendering on price alone
  • The standardising of fees regardless of trial length
  • Removing legal aid defendants’ rights to choose their own representative
  • Reducing the number of legal aid service providers by three quarters

The full response to the Ministry of Justice’s consultation, entitled Transforming Legal Aid: delivering a more credible and efficient system, is available at: http://bit.ly/ZHS5dy