As legal aid lawyers in England and Wales resign themselves to yet more fee cuts, they will be heartened to learn that their brothers and sisters in law north of the border saw some of their fees actually rise last year. The annual report of the Scottish Legal Aid Board reveals that Holyrood’s spending on legal aid rose by 7% in 2010/11 to £161.4m - of which £2.6m resulted from fee increases to solicitors and advocates.

The report prompted Austin Lafferty, vice-president of the Law Society of Scotland, to trumpet that his nation’s uncapped legal budget is something of which all Scots can be proud. ‘The last thing we want to see is the Scottish government going down a similar path as that being followed south of the border,’ he declared.

Amen to that. But it seems he spoke too soon.

Last week Alex Salmond announced deep spending cuts that include paring Scotland’s legal aid budget by 8% and squeezing travel time and mileage rates for solicitors. Hubris, nemesis for TLSS.

Still, it could have been much worse. Perhaps it helps that SNP justice secretary Kenny MacAskill is (or rather was), a prominent solicitor…