Consumers are being squeezed in a way many have never experienced, others had forgotten. Prices are escalating, salaries frozen or lost, and forecasts are as drab as the autumn weather. Any prospect of saving money is being sought after, the “bargain hunt” is on, money is undoubtedly tight.

The Public, when seeing a headline indicating Tesco is embarking on Legal Services might well imagine this is another great opportunity to save a few quid and indeed earn loyalty points, what could be better?.

“BE CAREFUL!” dear consumer.

I have run legal offices in Leeds and Harrogate for over 30years. I’m managing seven now. I started a Free Legal Advice Clinic well over 20 years ago and have dedicated well in excess of £1m worth of free advice time to the public. With all modesty, I know what I’m talking about.

Hear is my challenge. I cannot see how the public are going to benefit   by a voracious International supermarket chain offering this service. Why? because law is specialised. Gone are the days when one man bands “did all”. A firm of solicitors needs specialists to cover the work they offer, as will any enterprise offering legal services.

The press reported recently the mayhem left behind when unqualified cheap will making firms offered apparent value. Cheap until the work was examined, then terribly costly. I have to assume therefore your local Tesco Branch or the bigger stores will have to employ a team of lawyers covering any aspect of work. Even if Tesco stores were limited to say offer property / conveyancing, wills and probate services, it cannot be economically viable for the specialists to be in situ. Salaries for qualified and support staff are not cheap. Professional indemnity insurance and such hidden major overheads are massive. If the work ends up being funnelled to regional bases their consumers can be assured of the “offer” of Tesco finance and Tesco insurance. A nice little earner for Tesco.

My advice would be not to rely on convenience, but continue comparing the price and value of all legal services you buy, whether bundled or not. As they say, “Compare the Market”

Might the work be farmed out to selected firms ?

It could, but BE CAREFUL CONSUMER. Such block referrals happened in the boom years when agents selected their partners, shared fees and churned the work through lawyers computer programmes. The public rarely, if ever saw “their” lawyers and paid MORE for the “new service”, as two bodies shared one large fee.

Contrary to popular belief, the high street practises, treated with scorn, classed as “dinosaurs” offer a darn sight more than a transaction.  The service you receive will without doubt be more personal - you will know who you’re dealing with. This is critical because the decisions you make could relate to your biggest life time purchase, your estate on your death. The personal link is necessary. My clients tell me they want it.

You might also be surprised to find that the fees are invariably cheaper with the dinosaurs – so my advice would be always to compare the fees against those who conveniently gift wrap their services: estate agents and soon to be supermarkets. Then tell me where the bargain lies.

The high street is not encompassing Tesco’s profit – as rest assured Tesco will not be providing this service through altruism. I wonder if they will run a Free advice centre every week, come rain come shine?

Oops sorry…I agree on one point, the HIGH STREET LAWYER cannot offer loyalty points, but can only offer loyalty, a face you know, a face you trust, and value.

You choose, dear consumer.

The current unrest dominating every news broadcast is horrifying.
 
Youths in the majority are using the police shooting last week as a way of legitimising utterly appalling conduct. Destroying shops, homes, livelihoods and lives, is in their distorted view  “compensation” for frustration, boredom and alleged social deprivation.
 
As the news unfolds it is patently clear the rioting, looting and arson attacks are nothing more than acts of vile mindless thugs who put their own voracious appetites above those of the hard working members of their own and other communities.
 
The sad fact is many will gain from their actions.
 
Whilst arrests topple 400, the perpetrators will exceed this more than ten fold. They care not that Riot can result in 10 years prison. Others facing attempted murder charges can face “Life.” Do they care?  “No!”
 
Their bold actions, now portrayed as thugs bold enough to be seen without mask or hood is such, as financial limitations have whittled down the size of the Police Force, resulted in few specially trained riot teams, resulting in emergency services being away from an area of conflagration for seemingly, up to an hour and a half. This provides adequate time for smash and grabs, damage & wilful destruction.
 
How many will ever be “Punished?”
 
As a Leeds Solicitor with 35 years experience of criminal law and advocacy I am shocked at the present policy of starving the criminal justice system. It is quite clear the policy emanating from “on high” is less arrests = less police = less interviews & solicitors = less court appearances = less legal aid = less judicial & admin costs = less prisons= money saved.
 
I was the Custody Duty Solicitor yesterday for Leeds City. Any person arrested since mid-day Saturday with no Leeds solicitor, appearing in Court would have asked for my help. For decades, in Leeds, that meant on a Monday morning lists of names of people demanding bail or disposal. It was invariably a full day’s job. Yesterday, as I entered the Leeds Magistrates Court, if it hadn’t have been for TV Licence prosecutions, the place would have been serviced by one court. I had at 9.30am one detainee for Breach of the Peace-so routine, he handled it himself. I’m told every court is the same, Bradford once heaving daily is down to 3 court rooms. A duty solicitor I spoke to today has not been called out in Bradford for several months———has crime disappeared in Cities, Towns and the Country? Of course not— the policy is just ignore it, it is theoretically cheaper.
 
One must now assess the cost of the mayhem occurring in England. The cost to businesses, homes, & futures is incalculable. This is a haemorrhage with no apparent end.
 
Perhaps a review of economies regarding the Police and the Criminal Justice System may restore law and order, arrest the disorderly and redeem the confidence and status of London in the eyes of the community and the world.

Andrew Walker argues that the abolition of civil legal aid will not serve the interests of justice and may even delays in the court system.

We now have it official. The Justice Secretary Mr. Clarke has announced the virtual abolition of civil legal aid as we know it. With a few limited exceptions all that will remain for family cases is care proceedings and domestic violence injunctions. As a solicitor in Leeds I am, quite frankly, mystified, especially at the timing.

This summer offensive by the government undoubtedly represents the most terrific attack on the legal aid system since it was formed with the intention of providing access to justice for those most vulnerable in society.

It comes at a time in their lives when they are facing the crisis of a family breakdown with serious issues concerning their children and finances. Many will be left to represent themselves in proceedings that are totally alien to them and will often find it impossible to present their case in a coherent manner.

This will not serve the interests of justice for such families and create huge delays in the court system that will inevitably increase costs. The Law Society has presented credible ways of saving costs within the existing system yet they have so far being ignored.

The government claims to promote the family and children in particular. Yet this attack achieves the opposite. Prime Minister Cameron attacks absent Fathers for avoiding their financial responsibilities yet, at the same time, makes the child support system bureaucratic and asks the parent with care to pay money up front to start the process when they are the ones suffering a financial crisis in the first place.

Graham Stowe Bateson’s family law solicitors in Leeds have for over thirty years served our clients with first class legal advice and representation, often to the most disadvantaged people in society, and where we can we have regularly given free legal help. We cannot sit back and let this destruction of our legal aid system continue.

In the words of a famous Field Marshal: “There is no other course open to us but to fight it out.  Every position must be held to the last man: there must be no retirement.  With our backs to the wall and believing in the justice of our cause each one of us must fight on to the end.  The safety of our homes and the Freedom of mankind alike depend upon the conduct of each one of us at this critical moment.”

Andrew Walker is the head of Grahame Stowe Bateson’s Family Law Department at its city centre office in Leeds.

Fears for poor as family justice ‘faces meltdown’

By Olwen Dudgeon Legal Correspondent

A LEADING Yorkshire solicitor has warned the region’s family justice system is “facing meltdown” because of legal aid cuts.

Grahame Stowe, senior partner at Grahame Stowe Bateson, said of the 31 firms taking on legal aid family cases in Leeds, 23 have been told by the Legal Services Commission their contracts will end in October.

Family lawyers often represent victims of domestic violence or abused children. They also represent parents accused of abuse who face losing their children.

Mr Stowe says the decision to leave a city the size of Leeds with just eight firms offering family law legal aid will hit the poorest.

His firm’s five Leeds offices are among those affected, although his one office in Harrogate will have its contract renewed.

“These cuts to legal aid services defy all reason and are nothing less than savage. Our family courts are already overloaded, with child care cases taking on average, more than 44 weeks to be decided.

“Our fear is that areas of Yorkshire will no longer be served by legal aid family lawyers, which will limit access to justice, delay sensitive cases yet further and the leave the region’s family justice system facing meltdown.”

The firm’s Leeds offices have been awarded a new legal aid child care contract, but the Legal Services Commission has said it must now choose between family law work in Harrogate or public law child care work in Leeds - a decision Mr Stowe describes as “nonsensical.”

Savage cuts to Yorkshire’s legal aid services have led one of the region’s best-known lawyers to warn that the region’s family justice system is “facing meltdown”.

Grahame Stowe is the senior partner at Grahame Stowe Bateson, which is one of the biggest providers of legal aid family law in Yorkshire. He revealed that of the 31 firms currently taking on legal aid family cases in Leeds, 23 have been informed by the Legal Services Commission that their legal aid contracts will be withdrawn in October.Legal aid family lawyers represent some of the region’s most vulnerable people, from victims of domestic violence to abused children. They also represent parents who have been accused of abuse and who stand to lose their children forever.In Leeds, a city with significant areas of deprivation and a total population of nearly three-quarters of a million, the Legal Services Commission’s decision leaves just eight firms offering family law legal aid.

Grahame Stowe said: “These cuts to Yorkshire legal aid services defy all reason, and are nothing less than savage. Our family courts are already overloaded, with child care cases taking, on average, more than 44 weeks to be decided. We understand that many government-funded programmes are currently under review, but legal aid provides access to justice for those who need it most.

“Our fear is that areas of Yorkshire will no longer be served by legal aid family lawyers, which will limit access to justice, delay sensitive cases yet further and leave the region’s family justice system facing meltdown.”

Grahame Stowe Bateson has six offices in Leeds and Harrogate, has donated more than £1 million of free legal advice since it was founded in 1981 and has been praised by Leeds MPs and the Law Society for its commitment to providing access to justice.

Now the firm’s five Leeds offices - a number of which are located in poorer areas of the city - are to have their family contracts withdrawn, while Grahame Stowe Bateson’s office in Harrogate is to have its legal aid family contract renewed.

Grahame Stowe Bateson’s Leeds offices have been awarded a new legal aid child care contract and can continue to represent vulnerable children in care proceedings. But the Legal Services Commission has informed the firm that it is not permitted to have both contracts.  Instead Grahame Stowe Bateson must choose between legally aided family law work in Harrogate and public law child care work in Leeds - a decision that Grahame Stowe described as “nonsensical”.

“The formula by which contracts have been awarded is incomprehensible. We have been told that we can appeal, but it appears that the people overseeing the appeals process are the same people who made the decision in the first place.

“Unfortunately, the problems may be just beginning. The Legal Services Commission’s mental health contracts were reviewed several weeks ago, and providers were allocated less than two-thirds of the new cases for which they had applied. Later this year the criminal law contracts will be reviewed. Already there is speculation among lawyers that contracts will be awarded to just 10 firms in West Yorkshire, which if true is unimaginable. The loss of firms, careers and service to the public would be incalculable.”

Nationwide, the number of firms offering family law legal aid has been cut by almost half, from 2,400 to 1,300. The Legal Services Commission has insisted that the exercise “is about providing a better quality service to clients”. However the Law Society has warned that in parts of the country, thousands of people could struggle to get access to lawyers.

A Yorkshire law firm has passed a milestone by donating more than £1,000,000 of free legal advice. Leeds MPs and the Law Society have praised Grahame Stowe Bateson (GSB) for hosting free advice surgeries every Wednesday since opening its first office in 1981.

Led by Grahame Stowe, the firm now operates across seven locations in Leeds and Harrogate.

Mr Stowe’s wife, leading divorce lawyer Marilyn Stowe, has also been applauded for her pro-bono work. While working with GSB, Mrs Stowe unearthed crucial medical evidence which secured the release of Sally Clark, wrongly convicted of murdering her two sons. She runs her own firm, Stowe Family Law.

Mr Stowe said: “Pro-bono advice is a way law firms can really contribute and put something back into the communities they work in. It is far more effective than just handing over a cheque.

“I’m very proud that we have sustained this commitment for over a quarter of a century and am delighted with all the work the team has put in to achieve this milestone.”

Paul Marsh, president of the Law Society, said: “The value of GSB’s pro-bono work should be an inspiration for other law firms and businesses. It has shown a real commitment to providing access to justice, which is priceless to those who benefit from the advice provided.”

Leeds North West MP Greg Mulholland (Lib Dem) said: “I believe this is an essential and much needed service, particularly as legal aid funding is becoming ever more difficult to access.”

Fabian Hamilton, Labour MP for Leeds North East: “The public often believes that lawyers only care about the fees they are paid and not about the clients they represent. GSB is a firm that shows clearly why many lawyers went into their profession: to help vulnerable people who need legal advice gain equal access to the law, one of the essential elements of a real democracy.”

During November the practice waived £50,000 in fees as part of Will Aid, a national initiative where lawyers donate their services to support nine UK charities including the NSPCC, the British Red Cross and Help the Aged.

The firm’s expertise has also been recognised by Leeds University, which appointed GSB to provide pro-bono advice to its students.