The message will go from the Solicitors Family Law Association and the Association of Lawyers for Children to the Select Committee on Constitutional Affairs, which is conducting an inquiry into legal aid.
Karen Mackay, chief executive of the SFLA, said the number of lawyers doing legal aid work fell by six and four per cent in the last two years respectively, and that family law specialists were the largest group among those leaving.
"Money is the issue: rates have only gone up once in the last 10 years. With costs going up all the time, that amounts to continuing cuts," said Mackay. "But the bureaucracy of legal aid has become quite terrifying.
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