Scottish Government spending £8.1 million on 225 lawyers salaries as more Scots miss out on legal representation, access to justice

Scottish Government now have hundreds of lawyers paid for by taxpayers. While thousands of ordinary Scots struggle trying to find or afford legal representation in our own country, documents released under Freedom of Information legislation reveal the Scottish Government has quietly authorised a multi million pound doubling of the numbers of lawyers employed by the current administration, at a total cost to taxpayers of well over the £8.1 million salary only figure released in response to information disclosure requests.

FOI reveals MacAskill likes lawyers so much, he's employed over two hundred of them at our expense. Today it can be revealed the Scottish Government are spending a whopping £8.1 million pounds of public money on salaries alone of some 225 lawyers. The Scottish Government's FOI stated that : "The Scottish Government has 3 main offices which provide legal services to the Scottish Ministers and agencies for which they have responsibility: the Scottish Government Legal Directorate, the Office of Scottish Parliamentary Counsel and the Legal Secretariat to the Lord Advocate. These offices together employ 139 lawyers (as at 1 April 2009). The total annual salary for these lawyers (including national insurance contributions and superannuation) in financial year 2008-2009 was £8,146,000. In addition, a further 86 lawyers are seconded to other government offices and inquiries as part of the Government Legal Service for Scotland. Those lawyers’ salary costs are met by the host office or inquiry."

Scandal hit insurers Marsh & crooked regulators Law Society of Scotland & SLCC all get huge payments on the taxpayer. However, the Scottish Government failed to disclose in the FOI they also pay out huge bonuses to the legal staff as well as huge amounts of public money on their lawyers expenses claims, which include huge payments to the Law Society of Scotland for each lawyer's annual practising certificates, massive payments to Marsh UK for each of the lawyers indemnity insurance cover, and also a third gigantic payment to the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission to cover the complaints levy imposed on all solicitors working in Scotland who currently hold a practising certificate.

Previous totals of lawyers working for the Scottish Executive revealed half of today’s number. In a country where legal representation is becoming harder to obtain through cost, prejudice by the legal profession against particular cases or clients, and refusals by law firms to handle legal aid work, the huge increase in solicitors working for the Scottish Government from around 114 in late 2006 to today's 225 (also apparently on the rise) is an astounding slap in the face to people who find themselves locked out of the Scots legal system through no fault of their own, and also a sharp reminder to UK taxpayers that vast amounts of money are being needlessly wasted on legal teams working for the Government whose only real purpose seems to be to "gum up the works so the Government can get its way" - according to a former Justice Department employee.

Naturally, one might wonder what on earth over two hundred lawyers get up to, working for the Scottish Government. Why does the Scottish Government need to shell out so much of our money on lawyers when most of us cant get one to even write a letter without costing an arm & a leg ?

Well, taking a deeper look into the likes of the Scottish Government Legal Directorate, and the Government Legal Service for Scotland (GLSS), much of their work revolves around giving legal advice to Ministers on legal matters, legislation, policy, issues relating to the Scottish Parliament, relations with Local Government, and also on correspondence & dealings with tens of thousands of ordinary Scots who contact the Scottish Government for help & assistance when problems occur with public services and the like.

For instance, if you are someone who has fallen foul of a public service or a failure of regulation, have exhausted all methods of resolution and have now turned to writing to the relevant Scottish Government Minister for assistance, the chances are your pleas for help will be given the short sharp shrift by a rather uncaring member of the Government Legal Service For Scotland (employed at your expense as a taxpayer) to write Ministerial advice along the lines of “We cannot help this person as it would mean interfering with the running of a public body” or “I would recommend not replying to this individual” or something like that .. not the kind of response one would expect, being after all, a taxpayer who pays for the outlandish salaries, expenses & bonuses of these Government employed solicitors. One note of advice to a Minister which stuck in my mind over the years read : “The Law Society of Scotland have informed us this person will shortly no longer have legal representation therefore the case is not a threat to the Government. I suggest we simply reply saying we note their comments and close with that.”

I wrote an earlier report on how lawyers from the Government treat public pleas for Government & Parliament for help, which you can read here : Scottish Government's £10m in-house lawyers make their mark against legal reforms & public access to justice

In another example, with regard to the use of tainted blood products in Scotland, it seems the Government employed lawyers offered plenty advice to Ministers from the previous and current administration on how to escape liability for the infections and even deaths of those who were infected in Scottish hospitals by blood products which almost certainly many knew had serious risks attached .. and there stands these duty bound taxpayer lawyers working for the Government, clamouring over each other to suggest ideas to delay enquiries, avoid liability, and ignore pleas for help from those victims of the blood products scandal … which, surely, is a little disgusting to say the least. You can read my earlier report on that, here : Scottish blood infections inquiry will be 'another whitewash' as documents expected to be withheld to cover up public liability. Whether copies of that advice will turn up at the Inquiry is anyone’s guess .. but I’m betting not.

An example of inherent bias in the Government's Legal Service for Scotland can easily be displayed in the long and bitter battle to enact increased rights of audience in Scotland's courts, via Sections 25-29 of the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1990, which the GLSS and even the Civil Service wanted kept out of public reach.

While communications flew back & forth between Government Departments on how to stall or even repeal the little known legislation which would have helped tens of thousands of Scots over the years who have been unable to secure legal representation in Scotland's courts, lawyers working for the current and previous administrations continually put the boot in against allowing wider competition in the Scottish legal services marketplace, issuing advice to Ministers on ways to delay for decades, the implementation of laws first passed in 1990 but only enacted in 2007 after the media became interested.

The situation became so worry some for the Scottish legal establishment, Lord Hardie, who was serving as Lord Advocate in 1997, was apparently persuaded by legal teams working for the Government to actually advocate repeal of the 1990 access to justice laws, which I wrote about earlier, here : Former Lord Advocate Andrew Hardie revealed as major obstacle in removing lawyer-advocate monopoly on legal representation

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill has delayed reforming rights of audience in Scotland with the help of ‘legal advice’. Even after the 1990 rights of audience laws were finally enacted some 17 years later, by the previous Scottish Executive, lawyers at the GLSS and other Government Departments have fought a bitter battle to restrict applications from anyone else to practice law in Scotland, whispering in the ears of oh-so-willing-to-listen Ministers such as Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill, that apparently, no one other than members of the Law Society of Scotland, should be allowed to practice Law and represent the public in the Scottish Courts, and today, only the Association of Commercial Attorneys have managed to secure a practising certificate, highly restricted in nature, and mostly, useless in terms of expanding competition in Scotland’s legal services sector … just it seems, as lawyers working for the Government always wanted …

At the end of the day, with access to justice in Scotland apparently being rationed only to those whose face fits with the legal establishment, why should taxpayers be shelling out millions of pounds for hundreds of lawyers to work for the Scottish Government, whose main aim seems to be to prevent the public from getting a fair hearing ?

Scottish Government's £10m in-house lawyers make their mark against legal reforms & public access to justice

Scottish Government – more lawyers than ever. While many in Scotland face access to justice restrictions or problems in obtaining legal aid, the SNP controlled Scottish Government has no such problems with the legal profession, as figures reveal the SNP administration has recruited a hugely expensive and all time high army of in-house lawyers & legal firms to work for the Government.

The Government Legal Service for Scotland, otherwise known as GLSS, boasts nearly two hundred in-house lawyers working across the full range of Government Departments and allegedly 'independent' institutions such as the Scottish Law Commission, the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission, even the Scottish Parliament, and many others.

According to salary scales & statistics from 2007, the costs and numbers of lawyers involved in GLSS operations has risen sharply since the Scottish National Party took office, showing a rise from 114 posts to at least 175, and an almost doubling in cost to the Scottish taxpayer from £5 million to around £10 million pounds today. However, as if nearly two hundred strong army of lawyers weren't enough to defend the Scottish Government from all & sundry, it is also the case that additional legal teams & private legal firms are contracted in on almost "blank cheque" operations, as one Justice Department insider put it today.

From the GLSS own promotion, the current levels of salaries and posts for 2009 are as follows :

The GLSS offers excellent working conditions and career prospects, supported by a commitment to training and development. Salaries are in the range of £27,153 to £32,583 for Legal Officers and £36,203 to £46,700 for Principal Legal Officers, the main recruitment grades. Appointments are permanent and pensionable. There are part-time and job-share opportunities as well as other flexible working arrangements. The current salary for trainees is £17,000 in the first year, rising to £18,955 in the second year.

However, a full range of unmentioned perks for these in-house lawyers exist, where for instance, each solicitor's professional indemnity insurance subscription (required by the Law Society for a valid practising certificate), which can vary up to several thousand pounds each, levied as a result on claims against 'crooked lawyers' to the Master Insurance Policy, is also paid out of public funds as an 'expense'.

A Scottish Government spokesman refused to comment on why the current administration felt it needed to waste many more millions of pounds of taxpayers money on yet more lawyers & legal affairs, however an insider to the Justice Department condemned the GLSS as an unaccountable costly branch of Government which has deliberately put the boot into many legal reforms over the years, and more so since the last election.

"There is little that can be done by Ministers, the Government, Parliament, you name it, if solicitors working at the GLSS issue advice opposing assisting an individual on something like seeking an inquiry into a sudden death, or a medical scandal, or even such things as reform of the legal profession or legal services."

"Everyone knows that much of the advice "not to act" on occasions where the public have asked for help to their MSP, comes solely as a result of professional bias against the issue being discussed".

The source went on to claim that many of the private legal firms brought in under contract by the Scottish Government operated without much worry over financial accountability :”When law firms are brought in to do contract work the costs of what they are doing go through the roof !”.

In professional circles, it is widely known the GLSS have been involved in many inquiries & scandals which have taken years to resolve in Scotland, ranging from the Shirley McKie fingerprint scandal, where advice from the GLSS prolonged the then Scottish Executive's cover up of why fingerprints were misidentified by the then Scottish Criminal Records Office, and onto other serious issues such as the contaminated blood products scandal, where to this day, the Government's in house legal teams are seemingly attempting to wait out the issue so those victims who were caught up in the affair die off.

Notably for the issues which I campaign on, it seems the GLSS have been 'very active' in opposing parliamentary and government assistance to those who fell victim to the Scots legal profession, and recent information shown to me by one MSP, which came from the GLSS and was marked "not for disclosure to the constituent" urged the politician "to find a way out of involvement in the constituent's case", which strangely enough, related to the Law Society of Scotland and several crooked lawyers.

Advice to MSPs : ditch your constituents. An example of advice offered to one SNP politician who was told by a Government lawyer to ditch their constituent simply because the issue related to dealings with crooked lawyers and the Law Society of Scotland. To MSP : “I suggest you find a way out of any further involvement in your constituent’s case and do not reply to any further letters from him on this or any other matter.”. The lawyer in question, had not only ruined the constituent’s finances, he had conducted a long campaign of harassment allegedly even using contacts in the Police to hound his former client’s family out of their home.

The following is a description from the Scottish Government's website on the current state of the Government Legal Service for Scotland. No mention however of the role it plays in stymieing the public's access to justice, on everything from medical scandals, child abuse cases, construction & planning application scandals, scandals involving the legal profession, and even the revelations of material under Freedom of Information requests ....

Which part of helping Scots to gain access to justice and human rights does this lot play ? they seem little more than guardians for the professions, adept at preventing ordinary people getting help with problems involving vested interests rather than helping us all along ….

Government Legal Service for Scotland (Lawyers in Government)

The Government Legal Service for Scotland ( GLSS) is a professional community of lawyers in government in Scotland.

It exists in order to -

* raise awareness of the roles of public service lawyers and of the GLSS member offices
* promote contacts, share information and develop skills and knowledge among staff in its member offices
* provide shared services to member offices and their staff.

who we are

The member GLSS offices are -

* Office of the Solicitor to the Scottish Executive
* Legal Secretariat to the Lord Advocate
* Office of the Solicitor to the Advocate General
* Legal Secretariat to the Advocate General
* Scottish Parliament's Directorate of Legal Services
* Scottish Law Commission

The GLSS also provides legal staff to (for example) the Crofters' Commission, the Lord President's private office and the Scottish Land Court. It works closely with others, in particular with the Office of the Scottish Parliamentary Counsel ( OSPC), responsible for drafting most Scottish legislation.

uniqueness of GLSS work

Lawyers working with the GLSS and its related offices are engaged on a wide variety of interesting and intellectually challenging work, much of it unique to government. A central theme is the development and implementation of new law. Preparation of legislation for both the Scottish Parliament and Westminster forms a large part of the workload. It also includes handling high profile, sensitive litigation and dealing with novel devolution or other constitutional problems. The work of the GLSS is often newsworthy, and it is always necessary to consider political consequences and potential sensitivities or wider implications. Given the nature of the work, the GLSS lawyer has a very influential role and a real opportunity to make a difference.

GLSS lawyers are involved in almost all aspects of government - whether it be resolving legal problems in policy development, operational delivery of services to the public or the smooth running of corporate services. European Union, human rights and devolution law and practice form a constant background to government legal work.

GLSS lawyers may also be seconded to work in policy posts, particularly in areas which relate to legal policy such as the Scottish Executive's Justice Department or Constitutional Policy Unit. GLSS lawyers also provide support for public inquiries. Lawyers working at the Scottish Law Commission contribute directly to the Commission's aims of improving, simplifying and updating the law of Scotland and lawyers at the Scottish Parliament are central to the Parliament's work as a legislature.

Opportunities also exist for secondment to one of the EU institutions or a placement with an external organisation, whether in the public or private sector. This has, on occasions, involved temporary postings to places as far afield as Indonesia.

One aspect of working practice which differs markedly from many private sector firms is that lawyers in the GLSS tend to move between different areas of work over the course of their careers. They are viewed as specialist government lawyers, rather than specialising in a particular subject area for lengthy periods of time. This approach means that lawyers develop transferable skills and are able to deal with novel subjects which frequently arise.

Office of the Solicitor to the Scottish Executive

OSSE is the largest office in the GLSS, providing legal services to the Scottish Executive and its agencies. This covers a very wide spectrum including litigation and tribunal work, property and commercial law and procurement advice, instructing Bills and drafting subordinate legislation, including implementation of EC Directives. These responsibilities include the provision of legal advice to the Scottish Ministers. A major focus of OSSE's advisory and legislation work is in ensuring that Ministers act always within the powers conferred on them by the devolution settlement and that Executive Bills presented to the Scottish Parliament are within the legislative competence of the Parliament. This aspect of the office's work invariably involves consideration of human rights issues.

OSSE reports to the Lord Advocate and Solicitor General for Scotland who are the principal ministerial advisers to the Scottish Executive on legal matters. It currently has 109 lawyers, plus a range of support staff.

For more information see http://www.scotland.gov.uk

Legal secretariat to the lord advocate

The Lord Advocate and the Solicitor General for Scotland (formally known as the Scottish Law Officers) are the principal legal advisers to the Scottish Executive. One of their roles is to provide legal opinions to Scottish Ministers in cases where advice at the highest level is required. Both are members of the Executive and the Lord Advocate attends Cabinet.

The function of the Legal Secretariat is to support the Scottish Law Officers in this role, for instance by researching and helping to draft opinions and by providing advice on other matters referred to the Law Officers. The work very often involves complex issues of human rights and constitutional law. The Legal Secretariat also has an important role in maintaining close liaison with OSSE which provides most of the legal advice required by the Executive and with their UK counterparts.

The Legal Secretariat currently comprises three lawyers, plus support staff.

Office of the solicitor to the Advocate General

The Office of the Solicitor to the Advocate General for Scotland ( OSAG) is part of the Department of Constitutional Affairs, which is a Department of the UK Government. The Advocate General is the Law Officer responsible for advising UK Ministers on Scots law. OSAG is responsible for advising UK Government Departments operating in Scotland on all matters relating to Scots law. It instructs UK legislation applying in Scotland and represents its client Departments in litigation before the Scottish courts. It has special expertise in administrative law and in the division of legal powers between the devolved Scottish institutions and their UK counterparts.

The Office also provides support for the Advocate General in carrying out his statutory functions under the devolution settlement. Devolution issues arising in the Scottish courts are intimated to the Advocate General and OSAG staff co-ordinate their consideration in Whitehall and arrange for any intervention which the Advocate General considers appropriate. Legal staff also consider legislation which comes before the Scottish Parliament so as to identify any issues about competence which may arise. These issues are then considered in co-operation with Cabinet Office and other Whitehall legal advisers.

The Office comprises 18 lawyers, plus support staff.

legal secretariat to the advocate general

The Advocate General is one of the three UK Law Officers, along with the Attorney General and Solicitor General, and is the principal legal adviser to the UK Government on Scots law. The Legal Secretariat is a small team of three lawyers based in London. They assist the Advocate General in preparation of Law Officers' opinions (many of which are prepared jointly with the Law Officers for England and Wales), and support him in relation to Parliamentary business, Cabinet committee meetings, correspondence, speeches and other general business. The legal staff take part in Cabinet Office committees of officials and other Whitehall co-ordinating meetings on European law, human rights and devolution.

For more about OSAG and the Legal Secretariat see http://www.oag.gov.uk.

Scottish Parliament's directorate of legal services

GLSS staff in the Directorate gain experience as parliamentary lawyers. The work is diverse. Much of it is legislative - helping produce non-Executive Bills, advising the Presiding Office on legislative competence, scrutinising Minister-made subordinate legislation. There is also work on procedures and governance such as advising the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body which is responsible for providing the Parliament's property, staff and services. Most of the lawyers work not only with colleagues in the Parliament staff group but also with Members across the parliamentary political spectrum, in committees and other forums.

The Directorate has 13 lawyers, and four support staff.

For more information see

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/corporate/organisation/directorates/ls.htm.

Scottish Law Commission

The Scottish Law Commission is an independent statutory body which recommends reforms to improve, simplify and update the law. Its recommendations, if accepted, are generally implemented through legislation in the Scottish or Westminster Parliaments. Lawyers seconded from the GLSS play an important role in managing and contributing to the development of legal policy on all of its reform projects.

There are currently five senior GLSS lawyers working at the Commission. The Commission also recruits legal assistants for assignment to particular projects. For more information about the Commission and its work see http://www.scotlawcom.gov.uk.

careers

opportunities for lawyers in the GLSS

Throughout some 175 legal posts in the various offices staffed by GLSS lawyers, the GLSS provides excellent opportunities for a varied and stimulating career.

GLSS lawyers are all civil servants and recruitment is by way of open competition. Vacancies are advertised on the Scottish Executive website as well as in the national press ( www.scotland.gov.uk) Assignment to a particular post takes place after recruitment and is determined by the business needs of the different offices, taking into account, so far as practicable, the experience and preferences of successful candidates.

trainee solicitors

The GLSS offers a varied legal trainee programme which is advertised on the Executive's website and in the national press, as well as through its participation in annual law fairs run by the main Scottish Law Schools. The training covers a wide range of government legal work, from core professional areas - such as contract, litigation and commercial law - to specialist advisory work for departments and associated agencies. Trainees have four six-month placements during their traineeship. There may therefore be opportunities to work with the Legal Secretariat to the Lord Advocate, the Office of the Solicitor to the Advocate General, the Scottish Parliament or the Scottish Law Commission as well as a short placement in the Legal Secretariat to the Advocate General in London. There is also an exchange scheme under which some trainees may spend six months with a private sector firm.

pay and conditions

The GLSS offers excellent working conditions and career prospects, supported by a commitment to training and development. Salaries are in the range of £27,153 to £32,583 for Legal Officers and £36,203 to £46,700 for Principal Legal Officers, the main recruitment grades. Appointments are permanent and pensionable. There are part-time and job-share opportunities as well as other flexible working arrangements. The current salary for trainees is £17,000 in the first year, rising to £18,955 in the second year.

summer placement scheme

The GLSS operates a summer placement scheme offering law students one month's paid work experience, normally between June and September. The scheme is open to students in the fourth year of their degree or currently completing their diploma and is advertised each year through the university Law Schools and Faculties.

for further information contact: Ann McKenzie, GLSS Secretariat, G B(N), Victoria Quay, Edinburgh EH6 6QQ Tel no. 0131 244 0815 or email ann.mckenzie@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Scottish blood infections inquiry will be 'another whitewash' as documents expected to be withheld to cover up public liability

Prospects for an effective open inquiry into the use of contaminated blood products in Scotland, which has left thousands of victims suffering from fatal infections such as Hepatitis C, do not look good as the results of the private inquiry held in England were announced today, revealing the fact that several witnesses refused to attend, and that documentary evidence was withheld by the NHS once again.

You can read the report from the English inquiry, Chaired by the Rt Hon. Lord Archer of Sandwell QC, here : The Archer Inquiry

The Scottish inquiry into contaminated blood products, announced nearly a year ago by the Scottish Government, has yet to begin work, and while Nicola Sturgeon, the Cabinet Secretary for Health promised on BBC Radio today : "Not only are we promising a full and open inquiry but we will deliver a full and open inquiry." it turns out the Scottish Inquiry cannot compel witnesses from the rest of the UK to attend, despite assurances from Westminster there will be full cooperation.

While Ms Sturgeon's claims may raise the expectation of some, the fact is that while there are elements of the Scots legal profession who are representing victims of the tainted blood products scandal, victims who are most certainly owed an explanation of why they received tainted blood products from the NHS, and are given a measure of justice so far denied to them, there are other, more powerful elements of the Scots legal profession in the form of the Government Legal Service for Scotland (GLSS), who will be ensuring that many decisions undertaken within NHS Trusts in Scotland, which resulted in the use of the tainted blood products, will never come to light.

In-house legal team little more than ‘bouncers’. The GLSS is the Scottish Government's in-house legal team, which represents virtually all aspects of legal business carried out by Government, the Scottish Parliament, and most public services in Scotland, and lawyers from the GLSS have been known to have taken part in many cases over the years, both civil and criminal, where decisions were obviously taken by Ministers on GLSS advice to withhold, lose, & possibly even destroy evidence from inquiries & investigations which could have compromised the Government's line on what really happened in a particular instance.

It seems to be the case there are still a few solicitors at the GLSS who were at their posts during the use of the tainted blood products by NHS Trusts in Scotland and some are sceptical those same solicitors will reverse or even reveal any advice given at the time which seems to have allowed some involved in the scandal to destroy or ‘lose’ documents relating to the use of knowingly tainted blood products.

One legal insider speculated today "This is all about delaying any admission of negligence and any compensation to the victims.Its little more than playing for time in the usual way, and the current Scottish Government are no better on that score than those who were in office when it all happened".

Lets hope Lord Penrose feels otherwise when his inquiry eventually starts ….

More from BBC News :

Concern over Scots Hep C inquiry

By Eleanor Bradford
Health correspondent, BBC Scotland

Scots who were infected with deadly viruses through contaminated blood are calling for a Scottish inquiry to have more powers.

Lawyers acting for hundreds of victims said an independent inquiry, set up by the Scottish Government, would only have the power to call witnesses in Scotland.

As the blood supply was contaminated before devolution, many key decision makers were in Westminster.

More than 4,000 people were infected with Hepatitis C, and in some cases HIV, through blood transfusions or haemophilia treatments before effective screening of blood donations was introduced in the early 1990s.

A separate private inquiry into contaminated blood supplies, headed by Lord Archer of Sandwell, is due to announce its findings.

Although it interviewed Scottish victims and witnesses, it had no powers to force witnesses from the Department of Health to attend because it was not set up by the UK government. Several witnesses refused to attend and documents were withheld.

Lawyer for Scottish victims, Frank McGuire, said: "All these events took place before devolution. The Department of Health had an important role to play in it, and we can't get that evidence."

High Court Judge Lord Penrose has been appointed to lead the Scottish inquiry. He has not yet set a date for the start of his investigations.

“We're not really getting to the heart of the matter. It's another whitewash”
Frank McGuire (Lawyer for Scottish victims)

Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme the UK Government's Department of Health had given assurances it would co-operate fully with the inquiry.

"The inquiry has the maximum powers we are able to give it under the 2005 Inquiries Act," she said.

"It is the case that there may be issues of access to evidence or documents that are in possession of the UK Government but under the 2005 Inquiries Act no Scottish inquiry can compel that evidence.

"But we have been given assurances by the Department of Health that they will co-operate fully with Lord Penrose's inquiry."

She added: "Not only are we promising a full and open inquiry but we will deliver a full and open inquiry.

"I believe this inquiry is capable of giving those that have campaigned on the issue the answers they are looking for."

One of the victims, musician Andy Gunn, from Inverness, said he expected the Department of Health to withhold evidence from a Scottish inquiry, as it did in the Archer inquiry.

"Whilst we're grateful that they're holding an inquiry it's no use really because they're stopping short and withholding crucial documents and crucial witnesses," he said.

"We're not really getting to the heart of the matter. It's another whitewash."

Funding argument over Scottish Legal Complaints Commission conceals lawyers interference in 'independent' complaints body

While in-house lawyers such as those working for the notorious Government Legal Service for Scotland (GLSS) and other public bodies hope to escape paying the bulk of the new levy of "around £400 a year" to fund the new Scottish Legal Complaints Commission, the remainder of the Scots legal profession will have to pay the full amount plus the practicing certificate which is currently £735 a year, if of course, lawyers want to remain lawyers.

However, while the Law Society of Scotland are grumbling over the amounts to be paid by various factions of the legal profession, attempting bargains based on the rate of complaints that the likes of in-house lawyers or members of the Faculty of Advocates receive, the true picture of how the formation of the new SLCC is taking place is being slightly skewed, it seems in the benefit for the legal profession itself.

For a start, most of the staff of the new SLCC are migrating over from the Law Society of Scotland itself, many of those staff being qualified lawyers or those studying to qualify for the LLB and thus gain a practicing certificate, which the Law Society itself controls via admissions exams and awards at it's whim.

I reported on that matter in an earlier article here : Law Society staff secretly migrating into 'independent' complaints commission will ensure continuing problems of regulating Scottish lawyers

One wonders the, why there is such a fuss over who pays for what when all that is really happening is a piece of 'musical chairs', where the legal profession is, yet again, getting its way with its members migrating into the new 'independent' body to carry on investigating complaints against fellow lawyers, in the very same manner they have been doing for years at the Law Society of Scotland.

The definition of independence of this new 'independent' complaints bodyu slightly wears thin when taking that prospect into account ...

Further, Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill's 'appointees' to the new Commission are on around £300 plus a day for attendance which was envisaged as 2 or 3 days a month, but which it is now acknowledged by staff at the Justice Directorate that it will could be much more than a couple of days a month ...

Those highly paid £300 plus a day 'appointees' from Mr MacAskill. are ex-Police, lawyers and ex members of Law Society Complaints Committees who have tactically come out of the Law Society of Scotland to 'join' the new 'independent' SLCC.

Still think the new SLCC will be independent ?

Would anyone out there like £300 a day plus expenses to sit & look at complaints against fellow lawyers and friends in the legal profession ? Nice little earner isn't it .. getting £300 a day plus expenses to do a few inevitable whitewashes on crooked lawyers while leaving the poor client ruined as is usual at the Law Society of Scotland.

Even the new Chairman of the SLCC, Jane Irvine, the current Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman acknowledges she wasn't consulted on the backgrounds of some of those appointees, one of them being a lawyer whose legal firm has worked in key cases involving the notoriously corrupt Master Insurance Policy of the Law Society of Scotland, which saw revelations by Cabinet Secretary for Finance John Swinney of massive corruption by Law Society officials right up to the Chief Executive Douglas Mill.

You can read more about John Swinney's revelations on corruption in the Master Insurance Policy and at the very heart of the Law Society of Scotland here : Law Society boss Mill lied to Swinney, Parliament as secret memos reveal policy of intervention & obstruction on claims, complaints.

Another of the appointees, a former Policeman was in the Scotsman newspaper as being involved in serious internal investigations by his own Police Force against him, which are now being kept secret by Kenny MacAskill for fear of tainting the SLCC further, amid revelations this same ex Policeman sat on Law Society of Scotland Complaints Committees as a 'lay member' ...

I have reported on the sleaze in the SLCC's appointments process in previous articles here :

Call for MacAskill appointments 'sleaze investigation' as revelations show Legal Complaints Commission member was subject of Police inquiry

Calls for full disclosure on legal complaints commission members as Justice Department 'covers up' conflicts of interest in appointments scandal

It does seem that what was planned to be an 'independent' commission to consider complaints against crooked lawyers has actually been co-opted by the legal profession even before it has come into existence, such seems to be the power and influence of Scotland's legal establishment and its members, who are bent on keeping control of regulation, complaints, and the public's access to justice for themselves.

The current Justice Secretary, Mr MacAskill, as duly obliged his colleagues at the Law Society by following orders, despite the revelations from Mr Swinney in key areas which should have affected to a much greater extent the appointments and formation process of the SLCC which now looks little more than a "new" Law Society of Scotland, staffed by the same people, with many of it's allies and former members at the most senior levels of the Commission itself.

This is not what was envisaged as an 'independent' organisation to deal with complaints against the legal profession. This is just another corruption of the regulatory issue, and an insult to all Scots who are users of the poor legal services we are currently forced to take from closed shop Scots legal services market.

Lets hope someone has the guts to create a proper fully independent organisation to look into complaints against the legal profession and maintain regulation in an opened legal services market, not this half way house already infiltrated by the legal profession itself. That person who could create such an organisation, is not Mr MacAskill.

Here follows the Scotsman's take via an LLB hopeful, which also gives a take on Richard Keen, the Dean of the Faculty of Advocates who criticises the fact the Faculty has no representation on the new SLCC.

Well Mr Keen QC, you should have spoke up then for a place, shouldn't you ? I mean, why should Advocates let the Law Society of Scotland control the SLCC's staffing, appointments and budget plans while the Faculty is left out of everything .. tut tut ...

Just not Keen on 'taxation without representation'

By JENNIFER VEITCH

SOLICITORS can expect to pay a levy of around £400 a year to fund the new independent body being set up to handle legal service complaints, it has emerged. The Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC) is consulting the Law Society of Scotland and Faculty of Advocates on its budget proposals – including the levy that the professional bodies will have to collect from their members.

The figures, which have still to be finalised, would see most solicitors pay an annual levy, estimated at £420. Combined with the practising certificate fee – which is currently set at £735 a year – the cost of continuing to wear the badge of solicitor is likely to rise to more than £1,000 a year.

But it is likely that in-house solicitors, who make up around a quarter of the profession, will be offered a significant discount to reflect the fact that they rarely receive complaints. The In-House Lawyers Group has won support from the council of the Law Society of Scotland in recommending its members to pay a third of the levy, or around £140.

Newly qualified solicitors are also set to receive a 50 per cent discount, in line with the fact they pay only half the practising certificate fee during their first three years. As the commission is due to open in October, half-way through the financial year, all lawyers will be asked to pay a half-year levy to cover costs for its first six months.

Advocates will also have to pay the levy, at a rate being estimated at around £332 a year. But Richard Keen, QC, the dean of the Faculty, revealed he has written to Kenny MacAskill, the justice secretary, to express his "fundamental concern" about the prospect of "taxation without representation".

Keen points out that advocates have no member sitting on the commission, and have generated far fewer service complaints (just 26 a year) than solicitors (around 3,500).

"We are not represented on the commission, but we are being asked to pay its budget," he says. "We are being asked to pay an annual levy on a per capita basis. The illustrative figure is £166 per person (for six months]. That means the Faculty is going to have to pay around £160,000 a year to the commission. That is not so they can deal with 26 complaints, because they are only dealing with service complaints. We are talking about something of the order of ten complaints that are going to be dealt with."

He adds: "What concerns me is we may have created an enormous mallet to crack a very small nut as far as the Faculty is concerned. We are paying far, far more than solicitors in order to have this commission deal with service complaints and yet we are the ones with absolutely no representation on the commission. That appears to me to be inequitable."

Keen added the levy would end up being reflected in the fees charged to clients.

"We have to remember that every layer of bureaucracy has a cost, and someone has to meet that cost, and generally it ends up being the consumer," he says.

Philip Yelland, the Law Society of Scotland's director of client relations, says the rate of the levy would reflect the fact the commission was going to cost double what was originally forecast.

"The budget is still at a draft stage," he says. "One of the things we have been very conscious of is that the cost of the commission is significantly in excess of the original (estimate]. When this went through the finance committee of the Scottish Parliament, the figure was £1.5 million. It is now around double that.

"I think the commission will cost what the commission costs, and they have to set a budget that is fair and reasonable."

But he acknowledged its initial budget could not include what revenue might be generated by case fees – as it is not possible to forecast how many complaints it will deal with – and the commission will have an ongoing responsibility to consult the profession annually.

"They will have an additional source of income which will be case fees," he says. "That is something that clearly, in year one, they can't include in their budget." While the Law Society of Scotland will no longer handle service complaints, solicitors should not expect to see a reduction in the cost of their practising certificate, he adds.

"To say a levy at £400 per annum would mean £400 could come off the practising certificate would be an unrealistic expectation," he says. "If they start on 1 October, our role won't stop. We have still got conduct complaints to deal with (and] we are being given additional powers to deal with unsatisfactory professional conduct."

The society will also need resources to address the impact of the commission's decisions on standards, he says.

But Yelland adds the society is already working closely with the commission to ensure a "smooth transition" from the new complaints handling system.

"We have had a very good positive constructive discussion with them," he says. "They are setting up a new body and judging how many complaints they will get.

"They have clearly recognised that we have been dealing with service complaints since 1989 and they have been very keen to learn from us.

"They have been very keen to talk to us, and we have been very keen to pass on our experience and the information that we have."

Jane Irvine, chairwoman of the commission and the current Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman, says work is ongoing to set the levy and rates. But she adds that the commissioners recognise the need to "budget wisely".

"Members of the SLCC are currently working on setting a budget for the first year of our operation, and considering how case fees should be charged," she says.

"In doing this, we are extremely conscious that we owe duties to everyone who will use our service to create an efficient and effective body, so we must be adequately funded and operate a practical case fee system.

"We want to create systems that work effectively and lead to early resolution of complaints. We also recognise we owe duties to the legal profession and to their clients to use the independence we have to plan commercially and budget wisely, as ultimately our costs will be levied on the legal profession."

Janet Hood, chairwoman of the In-House Lawyers Group, says she is pleased the Law Society of Scotland is supportive of a substantial discount. She concedes the cost is "hardly a bank-breaker" for most employers, but argues that in-house lawyers rarely generate complaints.

"We are hoping to pay about a third of what the commission fees will be," she says. "I do hope the commission will listen to not only the In-house Lawyers Group but to the Law Society of Scotland. And if there are lawyers with the commission, they will be in-house lawyers too."