On 13 July, the Ministry of Justice published the draft “Community Legal Service (Funding) (Amendment No.2) Order 2011. The Law Society and Bar Council have been invited to respond by 10 August. HLPA has the opportunity to feed into this process. This order is intended to implement the 10% fee cut in legal aid rates, codify barristers’ fees and reduce them by 10%, and set experts’ fees at a very low level.
Robert Latham has prepared a paper outlining the current proposals, here.
The draft order is here.
The MoJ letter setting out the basis of the consultation is here.
Members please send any views or responses to Robert at r.latham@doughtystreet.co.uk , as soon as possible.