I welcome Avtar Bhatoa’s assessment of the threat posed by the use of ProcureCos to obtain contracts from the Legal Services Commission.

The Ministry of Justice proposals threaten the very existence of our firms.

In my opinion he is being over-optimistic. A procurement company could be very attractive to individual barristers. His argument that 150 duty solicitors would be required to keep 30 barristers afloat collapses as soon as the duty slots are taken away from the individual solicitors. This proposal has been on the verge of implementation in prior reviews. I anticipate it will be included in the next consultation and then implemented. Case preparation would be done by paralegals under supervision.

I have always believed in giving duty slots to firms rather than to individual solicitors. This would reduce high salaries based on the value of the work available from the slots awarded, rather than any uniquely valuable skill set of duty solicitors. If this reform had been implemented when first proposed, the savings made would have been used by law firms to introduce economies of scale and improved working methods to drive down the cost of conducting criminal litigation – exactly what the LSC and now the MoJ say they want to do. For the bar to enter the market with this benefit from the outset, to the certain detriment of long-established criminal practices, will add what may be a final insult to a longstanding injury.

Aryeh Moss, Moss & Co, London E5