Proposed page cuts face opposition

The Law Society has launched a legal challenge against proposed cuts to fees paid to criminal defence lawyers. The proposed changes, to the Litigators Graduated Fee Scheme (LGFS), would reduce the number of pages of prosecution evidence that defendant lawyers can claim for, from 10,000 pages to 6,000. The Law Society has sent a pre-action protocol letter for judicial review to the Lord Chancellor. Law Society President Joe Egan said: ‘After decades of legal aid cuts by successive governments we have no choice but to act against an arbitrary cut that will do little if anything to drive down the legal aid bill—but could have a very detrimental impact on justice.’