The ALC's co-chair Alistair MacDonald said the revised legal aid contract introduced in October was leaving law firms out of pocket.
Under the contract lawyers receive a fixed fee for each case rather than being paid per hour worked. The ALC says this means lawyers are being paid less for more complex cases.
"It creates a perverse incentive for simpler cases that are cheaper to do, and to use less qualified lawyers who cost less," he said.
He added that an exodus of lawyers from the sector would undermine the implementation of the new Public Law Outline, which seeks to speed up care proceedings. "That reform can only be effective in reducing delay and improving outcomes for children if a sufficient and sustainable supplier base of specialist legal practitioners is maintained," he said.
The Children's Legal Centre echoed MacDonald's criticisms. Alison Fiddy, a solicitor on the centre's education team, told CYP Now: "The issue of less lawyers buying into the contract is really big and will result in worse legal advice for children and young people. The contract also prevents lawyers from travelling to see their clients and expects clients to go to lawyers, which vulnerable young people can't always do."
The contract also undermines the Children's Legal Centre's work with homeless young people since it requires them to complete a legal advocacy form that needs a home address before work can take place.
Fiddy said talks about the problems with the Legal Services Commission (LSC), the government agency that produced the contract, were going nowhere. "The commission just will not budge," she said.
But an LSC spokesman defended the contract. "The best outcome for children involved in a family dispute remains the core focus of the LSC's family policy," he said. "Fixed fee schemes are not intended to pay the exact amount for each case, rather costs are intended to balance out over a range of cases."
He added that alternative payment arrangements are available if cases cost more than three times the fixed fees.
THE PUBLIC LAW OUTLINE
- The outline aims to improve work carried out by local authorities ahead of family law cases reaching court
- It says the timetable for the case should depend on the needs of the child
- In addition it requires alternatives to care proceedings to be fully explored prior to court hearings
- It replaces the Protocol for Judicial Case Management in Public Law Children Act Cases
- The outline will come into effect from April 2008.
