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Carter Review (Legal Aid)

As a lawyer, I am willing to accept almost any fault. I am certainly not going to defend lawyers. There will always be two factors in debates such as this: the factor of professional interest and of a profession defending itself, and the genuine question of the impact on human beings. I have been trying to address the Minister about the latter one. I ask her to accept that there will be that impact, particularly in the rural areas that I represent. Small firms will go out of business. They will not find that, by merging, the access to rural legal aid services will increase. It will diminish. That is why I ask the Minister, and I know that she has been in the profession, to think carefully about whether some amendment, or pause for thought at least, could be introduced even at this stage. My concern is for those who will be damaged, not really for the effect on the profession, which is a by-product. Large firms will be unable to take the care, trouble or time over individuals that those firms with which I have been familiar for more than 25 years have habitually done. It is on the professional energy, dedication and commitment of such firms that much of the integrity and quality of our justice system is based. If that is attacked, one of the foundations of justice in this country will be eroded and undermined. Although I appreciate that the Government do not see it as an attack, it is perceived as such across the profession. I have never known the profession in such a state of trouble, indignation and general anxiety for the services that they will be able to provide. The measure is perceived as something that will degrade the system of justice, and I urge the Minister to pause and to think again.