Chris Grayling's Consultation - 'Transforming Legal Aid'

This post is all about giving you the important facts and opinions you need to know about the Ministry of Justice consultation paper, “Transforming legal aid”; how the process panned out and how it was received etc.

The consultation process closed June 4 2013 and over 13,000 responses were received:

The Ministry of Justice have just confirmed that they have in excess of 13,000 responses to the Consultation on Transforming Legal Aid
— Chris Milligan (@milligan_cp) June 4, 2013

The irrepressible legal/barristerial tweeter, Adam Wagner did his thing to drive up the responses:

Legal Aid - consultation closes 4th June! That is TOMORROW obiterj.blogspot.com/2013/06/legal-…
— Adam Wagner (@AdamWagner1) June 3, 2013

The Law Society of England and Wales gave a response: which you can read here. Though they were criticised for their slow response:

@thelawsociety You were very slow off the mark today & generally in representing solicitors on this issue. Keep up. #saveukjustice #notopct
— Marie-Louise King (@i_litigate) June 4, 2013

The Bar Council gave a stat-heavy response which you can read here.

Bar Council's mammoth response to the Legal Aid consultation**Warning: contains stats****Unlike the MoJ proposals live.barcouncil.netxtra.net/media/213867/t…
— Adam Wagner (@AdamWagner1) June 5, 2013

The leading barrister on human rights in the UK and leading legal tweeter, Adam Wagner (@AdamWagner1) helped to draft a response for his chambers, 1 Crown Office Row (@1CrownOfficeRow) which you can read here.

One Crown Office Row responds to the Ministry of Justice’s consultation on “Transforming Legal Aid”.- 1cor.com/news/One-Crown…
— 1 Crown Office Row (@1CrownOfficeRow) June 5, 2013

The Treasury Counsel gave their response and their full weight of opposition in an open letter available here. And another response to the consultation in the tweet below.

Response to legal aid consultation from @richardmoorhead wp.me/pxDm8-nO
— Chris Dale (@chrisdaleoxford) June 3, 2013

If MoJ read just one response, this absolutely needs to be it “@richardmoorhead: Response to Legal Aid Consultation wp.me/pxDm8-nO”
— Jeremy Hopkins (@Jezhop) June 3, 2013

A few more:

11kbw's response to MoJ consultation: 11kbw.com/knowledge-even… #saveukjustice So persuasive, I dropped my unqualified support for Grayling
— Sean Jones (@seanjones11kbw) June 6, 2013

Inner Temple’s Response to Legal Aid Consultation – The Inner Temple goo.gl/fb/mMH6P
— Inner Temple Library (@inner_temple) June 5, 2013

“@rydermc: Matrix response to legal aid consultation: matrixlaw.co.uk/uploads/other/…” Extensive and excellent responses... worth a read!
— Paul Bernal (@PaulbernalUK) June 4, 2013

A must read for clear analysis: @binghamcentre response to MoJ Legal Aid consultation bit.ly/14sQ7Kh & bit.ly/11iSiPL
— Mukul Chawla QC (@MChawlaQC) June 4, 2013