The Bar Council chairman has branded referral fees as ‘bribes’.
In a message to the council’s members, chairman of the Bar Peter Lodder QC slammed the Legal Services Board’s recent decision not to ban the controversial practice.
He wrote: “They represent an unwarranted and unjustifiable threat to the public interest in the efficient and effective provision of legal services to consumers.
“The choice of lawyer should not be influenced by who paid what to whom but should be decided purely on the quality and skills of the individual and their ability to advocate the client’s best interests. In our view referral fees are bribes.
“We were surprised and angered by the decision of the Legal Services Board (LSB) not to introduce this prohibition. We shall continue to call for them to be banned.”
Lodder added that the council, which represents barristers from across England and Wales, has instructed a leading counsel to advise on the impact that the Bribery Act has had on such payments.
And he told members that the council is considering an amendment to the Legal Aid Bill to ban the practice when the House of Lords debates the legislation following parliament’s summer recess.
The Bar Council, along with the Law Society, has spoken out in support of an end to referral fees.
No comments yet