The secret diary of a legal aid solicitor: the day-to-day story of a high street practitioner
In the week before the introduction of the legal aid provisions of the LASPO Act, an anonymous legal aid solicitor writes about a typical day:
The day for a legal aid practitioner normally begins badly. I have to open both the post and the DX Document Exchange. Most people do not use the DX anymore as e-mail is the preferred medium of communication. DX normally consists of a few conveyancing documents, counsel’s fee notes and invitations to attend a plethora of training courses. The vast bulk of the DX is communications from the Legal Services Commission (LSC). For some peculiar reason, there is a need to put each and every communication in a separate envelope necessitating more paper cuts along the way opening a dozen envelopes. These contain legal aid certificates, objections to extension of scope and the occasional piece of good news saying that a bill has been passed and will be paid in due course. Even more oddly, the LSC sometimes uses the post to send its communications. The post really has become very small indeed and it does seem a shame that the LSC has been so slow to embrace e-mail. Occasionally, very occasionally, I get the odd e-mail from the LSC, which is frustrating because it shows the commission can actually use it!
Telephone enquiries
After the DX and post, the telephones start in earnest. More and more enquiries recently, as people begin to realise that legal aid for a vast swathe of matters will be gone in a matter of days. There is desperation in some of the voices, and sometimes people confess that we might be the tenth or eleventh firm they have called in order to get advice.
Clients arrive
The first appointment arrives in reception. They have been asked to bring their eligibility documents, but the bank statement is out of date and so is the letter confirming that they are in receipt of benefits.
A client is not impressed about being asked to go away and return with the correct documentation. Reception can become a very unhappy place, especially when several clients realise that they will be unable to be seen by solicitors because their eligibility documentation is not up to scratch.
While waiting for the next client, a gentleman comes into reception asking if I can witness a statutory declaration for him, which I am pleased to do: £5 is £5. While doing the statutory declaration, he asks if I can give him free advice on the 50-page commercial lease which is attached; I politely decline.
The first legal aid client of the day arrives, having proved her eligibility, and sits down to present a tale of housing woe. A lot of these cases are very similar: ordinary people in financial difficulties who get into arrears with their rent and as a result of being in arrears are too embarrassed or scared to report any disrepair. This particular client had a flat which was letting in water and problems involving a defective boiler; however, she had been simply too scared to report these issues to her landlord as she knew that she had rent arrears. These are very sad cases indeed.
A typical day …
The typical day of a legal aid practitioner is not a happy one. We are there for a purpose. The purpose is to provide assistance to those who require it, and I do believe that those who do this work will continue in practice.