11/15/2022 0 Comments Hero zero privateThey know what the agenda is - we want better services for the client and at the same time we want to control what we spend. If the Legal Services Commission (LSC) were to say tomato, it is likely that many private criminal law specialist solicitors would have a different idea about how the word should be pronounced.The latest example is the Public Defender Service (PDS) - private practitioners suspect sinister motives, while the LSC argues that it holds no threat and will only benefit private firms.Last week, the commission told the Gazette that it might consider branching the concept out into the civil arena, having already learned some lessons from the four pilot public defender offices, which opened six months ago in Swansea, Middlesbrough, Birmingham and Liverpool (see Gazette, 15 November, 1).The LSC says that they are already fulfilling their aim of plugging gaps in provision, providing a way of benchmarking, and informing the decision-makers about what it is like on the frontline.Earlier this month, Richard Collins, head of the Criminal Defence Service (CDS), said he has discovered through the pilots that recruitment is a problem that might merit increasing rates, a move which encouraged even the most hardened cynics (see Gazette, 8 November, 1).Mr Collins stresses these are only the preliminary findings of the four-year pilot, which will yield more valuable information before its time is up.'The PDS gives us a much better understanding of what it is like to provide criminal services,' he argues.'We are trying to develop the criminal defence service overall, and our relationship with private practice. As the profession waits with bated breath for research into public defenders, the Legal Services Commission says its pilot offices are doing useful work.īut some lawyers are unconvinced, reports Paula Rohan
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