Hopeless Scottish government group fails to stay on task or even meet

The Short Life Working Group on the Future of the Legal Profession, consisting of lawyers, government representatives and others was established in 2022. Though it met in 2023, the group did not meet at all last year. It has now produced its draft final report.

Its remit was to undertake an evidence-based review of the key challenges facing the legal profession and propose solutions to “increase diversity, capacity and equality of opportunity” within the criminal law sector and the wider legal profession and judiciary in Scotland. It was agreed after it was convened that the group would also focus on the provision of criminal law legal services.

Mr Dunlop said in a response, however, that the draft final report was “disappointing” and questioned why the group was even formed.

He commented: “The SLWG was set up by Eleanor Whitham MSP, in her short tenure as minister for community safety, as long ago as 2022. It met on various occasions in the course of 2023. The outcome of the was to my mind clear: urgent steps are required to overhaul the legal aid system, with particular reference to solicitors working in criminal and family cases, if there is to be any chance to rescue the current problems being experienced by that side of the profession in the form of recruitment and retention. I had hoped that this message had been received and understood when the SLWG closed in December 2023.”

He added: “Nothing then happened, for the entirety of 2024.” Mr Dunlop said that during this time he had assumed “work was undergoing in an attempt to address the problems which I, and others, have highlighted”.

Yet the report does not address this issue. It concludes: “The Working Group will meet again in 2025 to focus on identifying actions and solutions to increase diversity, capacity and equality of opportunity within the criminal law sector and the wider legal profession and Judiciary in Scotland.”

Mr Dunlop pointed out that these issues are already being adequately addressed. He commented: “I have told you what Faculty is doing in this respect, and it is working: we have the largest ever amount of devils this year, and will welcome an even larger intake next year. We have increased the scholarship scheme. We have reformed our disciplinary regime. We have taken steps to improve well-being and to stamp out bullying. All of those steps are helping with recruitment and retention.”

He stressed that the critical problem for the profession is the provision of legal aid.

“But if we are to have a thriving legal profession able to continue to serve all people in Scotland, then the legal aid problems need to be addressed, and quickly. That will be the message, no matter how many times the group reconvenes. The solution thus lies with the ministers, and I hope that they will be able to respond by proposing something in that regard,” he said.