Public funding deal

And now have a look at this press release from the MOJ about the deal done between the Law Society & the MOJ here .

I wonder if they got a settlement uplift?

Very interesting post in the Nearly Legal blog about the recent settlement of litigation between the Law Society & the LSC. Comments please!

Unreliable Evidence

In case you missed Radio 4's Unreliable Evidence presented by Clive Anderson you can listen again from the linked website. Today's broadcast was all about those public funding cuts!

Ruthie's Law on the arrogance of the LSC

From another blog that is always worth reading, though it generally has nothing to do with family law*, comes a caustic comment or two about the LSC victory (or was it defeat?) in court (see To the Victor the Spoils).

* (The author, Mistress Ruthie is a solicitor-advocate specialising in fraud, regulatory crime, road traffic law and licensing).

To the Victor the Spoils? Apparently not.

The Law Society has won its case against the Legal Services Commission in relation to the legality of the new public funding contracts. See the judgment of the Court of Appeal (Lord Chief Justice, Lord Justice Wall & Lord Justice Lawrence Collins). The court held that:-

"The power of amendment is so wide in this case that it amounts to a power to rewrite the contract."

The court went on to hold that the unilateral power to amend in such a wholesale way on short notice was an unjustified obstacle to the opening up of public procurement to competition & that it infringed the principal of equal treatment. It did not make it any better that if firms did not like the proposed amendments they could simply terminate the contracts.

Unfortunately, as is obvious from this Times report the LSC are obstinately clinging to their reform plans and say that it will merely mean they have to terminate & re-tender for contracts more frequently.