Mental health lawyers have expressed concern at the impact of the Legal Services Commission’s recent tender process as national firm Duncan Lewis seeks to recruit 28 mental health lawyers under a new consultancy model to fulfil its contracts.

Duncan Lewis, an established legal aid provider in London with a team of 11 qualified mental health solicitors, has been given contracts to deliver mental health work in 10 new procurement areas across the country, ranging from the East Midlands to the south-east coast, and Yorkshire and Humber.

The firm submitted speculative bids to the LSC in areas where it currently has no permanent presence, although it has existing clients. Having won contracts, it is now attempting to recruit 28 mental health panel members to work on a consultancy basis, with lawyers paid 80% of the legal aid fee, and 20% being retained by the firm. Duncan Lewis said it hoped to expand its mental health expertise into areas of the country where there was an undersupply, building on the consultancy model that it had previously trialled successfully.

However, solicitors warned that the tender result meant that firms with established mental health departments in some areas were facing closure after failing to win any mental health work or being offered contracts too small to be viable.

Richard Charlton, chairman of the Mental Health Lawyers Association, said: ‘This example illustrates how badly designed the tender process was. It has resulted in enormous disruption for firms which will be felt by clients.’

Lucy Scott-Moncrieff, mental health partner at virtual firm Scott-Moncrieff Harbour & Sinclair, said: ‘Nobody can fault Duncan Lewis or any other firm for making speculative bids in the current situation.’

But she warned that, as firms seek to get the required staff in place, there could be a great deal of upheaval. The contract requires firms to have one supervising lawyer for every six caseworkers.

Scott-Moncrieff said: ‘Supervisors are limited in number and it therefore seems likely that those firms seeking supervisors will be recruiting them from other firms.’

Duncan Lewis’s practice manager Adam Makepeace said: ‘We sympathise with firms which have reduced contracts. We spent over five years growing a successful and high-quality mental health department [in the capital] but have received less than 20% of our previous matter start allocation in London.

He added: ‘The apparently unintended consequence of the tender process of undermining the viability of some of the highest-quality mental health practices anywhere in the country is a matter of great concern to all who work in this field.’