Victory for Law Society in legal aid case

The body, which represents more than 145,000 solicitors in England and Wales, argued the scheme used by the Legal Services Commission (LSC) was so flawed it threatened to create "legal aid deserts" around the country.

Dinah Rose QC, appearing for the Society, spoke of the "shock" in the legal world this summer when it became clear the tendering system was going to lead to a 40 per cent reduction in the number of specialist firms winning publicly-funded family law contracts, down from 2,470 to 1,300, creating serious gaps in geographical coverage of family legal aid.

At the heart of the case was the "caseworker criterion" introduced by the LSC for awarding contracts. It gave most points to law firms with caseworkers who were members of two separate accreditation schemes showing they were able to undertake work with children and deal with other complex family issues, including domestic violence.

Lord Justice Moses said the criteria were not set out until January 10 this year and not announced until the bids for contracts had opened, leading to "an absence of awareness" that double accreditation was required – until it was too late to apply.

Many highly-qualified firms were thus not given sufficient time to apply for the necessary accreditation.

The LSC's argument that the Law Society should not be granted a judicial review because it had delayed too long in bringing its legal action was rejected.