The High Court will rule today on the outcome of the Law Society’s expedited judicial review challenge of the Legal Services Commission’s family tender.

The three-day proceedings heard by Lord Justice Moses and Mr Justice Beatson concluded on Monday, with judgment expected to be handed down this afternoon.

The Law Society claimed the tender process was unlawful, and has asked the court to quash the results and extend the current family contract to enable the tender to be rerun.

Dinah Rose QC, counsel for the Law Society, told the court that the tender outcome, which reduced the number of family law providers from about 2,400 to 1,345, would have serious adverse consequences on access to justice for some of the most vulnerable in society.

She said the criterion which gave firms more points if they employed caseworkers who were on specialist panels was ‘unfairly, unreasonably and unlawfully applied’.

Rose said the outcome of the process was ‘unintended and unforeseen’ by the LSC, because it had failed to properly investigate, publicise, consult on or assess the impact of its selection criteria.

Representing the LSC, Clive Lewis QC said the Law Society’s case should have been brought earlier, after the tender criteria were published. He said allowing it now would prejudice those firms that had been awarded contracts.

Lewis also told the court it should have been ‘obvious’ to firms that membership of specialist panels was going to be an important criterion.