The leading article in my Law Society Gazette magazine received this morning, was about unpaid court fines. Apparently unpaid fines are now in the region of £609.5 million pounds.
Six hundred and nine (point five) million pounds. Up 21 million from last year.
But despite saying that they are taking this ‘very seriously’ the Ministry of Justice is cutting back on its enforcement staff to save money.
Apparently this isn’t going to be a problem, as (they say) they are quite capable of collecting more efficiently with fewer staff.
Hmm
The article also points out that the MOJ is slicing £350 million from the legal aid budget, which the Law Society claims is putting legal aid firms very existence at risk (although frankly I’m amazed that any of them have lasted so long …). It all sounds like the usual topsy turvy thinking that seems to go on in government nowadays.
The other main article on the front page, is about the Law Society asking the MOJ to make an urgent amendment to the Legal Services Act to prevent non lawyers with spent convictions (eg for fraud) from becoming owners of law firms under the new rules, due to come into force in October.
You couldn’t make it up really could you?