Legal aid firms in west London have formed a campaign group to fight proposals to set up a community legal advice centre (CLAC) in their area.

SAGE – Solicitors Action Group for Ealing – has asked the London borough of Ealing to reconsider working with the Legal Services Commission on a plan to replace existing legal advice services with a CLAC from April 2010.

The group, made up of eight local firms, fears that the CLAC could be operated by an organisation bidding from outside the borough, and that local knowledge may be lost. It has started a petition and drafted a letter for clients to send to councillors to show their support for local private practice firms who are currently providing advice alongside not-for-profit organisation Law For All.

CLACs are intended to deliver a one-stop service to clients with social welfare problems. There are currently five – in Gateshead, Portsmouth (pictured right), Leicester, Derby and Hull.

In a letter to the council, SAGE says that only the Gateshead CLAC has been in existence for longer than two years and that its establishment led to the collapse of the local law centre.

‘In our view this is the very worst time to destroy the existing structures and replace them with a relatively new and untested arrangement,’ it says.

The LSC said it has an agreement in principle to establish a CLAC jointly commissioned with the council, but a final decision has not been taken. It said the centre would not be operational before April 2010 and that providers, stakeholders and other interested parties would be fully involved in the process.