The cold, a cold and client visits precluded a post yesterday. This is the last one of the year therefore and a chance to wish all clients and visitors to this site a Merry Christmas and a Happy, and hopefully prosperous, New Year.

As promised the best Xmas song of all time, see you in 2010;

UPDATE

Not sure about this version by Billy Brag and Florence and the Machine. Worth a listen though.

Forgot to do this on Friday. Did suggest a week or so ago that I would do the best Xmas song ever this week but I will save that for Wednesday. Forget the charts this is this years best Xmas song and should be No.1 (It also annoys die hard Dylan fans which is a bonus)

CDS BVT Pilots off;

"So here it is Merry Xmas (especially in Manchester and Bristol) everybodys having fun, look to the future no its only just begun"

"Ministers have asked us to work with colleagues at the Ministry of Justice and the legal professions to develop outline proposals for a more ambitious programme for England and Wales." 

Make the JRS Webinar Service one of your New Year Resolutions

The Webinar Service was our key innovation of 2009 - we ran one most weeks from May, to universal approval from participants. Only one person had an IT glitch throughout that period and everyone appreciated the simple, undemanding and cost effective way this allows you to accrue CPD points. We also hope that the content was both relevant and topical too.

Here then is the first months programme. All start at 1pm each Friday Lunchtime, cost £60 a session (£180 for all 4) and carry a CPD point for everyone gathered around your computer screen.

8th January 2010

The Year Ahead

A first Friday back summary of all the key dates, events and changes we can expect in the world of Legal Aid supply. Be sure you are fully aware of all the deadlines and all the actions you will have to take in the New Year.

15th January 2010

CDS Generic Contract Bids

For those unable to attend this weeks Courses in Newcastle and Leeds this will be a distilled essential guide to getting your CDS bid right. We hope to be able to provide a guided tour to the "application portal" as well as identifying all essential qualifying criteria.

22nd January 2010

A New Year Resolution on Profitability

More standard fee, reduced standard fees, a new round of Contract Compliance Audits and a tightening assessment regime hardly bring New Year cheer. This course brings together in one short focussed session the key cost protection and maximisation advice JRS has provided to clients in recent years. We also identify the essential the essential attitudinal change required by fee earners in an almost entirely "output funded" scheme.

29th January 2010

Family and Civil Procurement

Once again a distilled version of the 3-hour courses we are offering face-to-face earlier in the same week. Whilst the former is desirable, especially in Civil, this course aims to provide an essential practical guide to making a successful bid, including an introduction to the online portal.

To no great surprise (at least on my part) the MoJ are going ahead with the proposed cuts to PACE and Cat 3 Standard fees. That the document still talks about BVT in 2013 is perhaps of more interest, but perhaps that is just because they fee they have to.

The PACE proposal is a hybrid of the consultation options which will see all schemes reduced by at least 2.5% other by as much as 11.5%. As is noted in the comments below this brings less seasonal cheer.

I have just compared a mixed bag of 8, family bills against what they will get after October next year. The firm in question would have been ahead on every single claim and quite significantly where they were doing the advocacy (most of the cases).

Very interesting given everything else going on at the moment.

I have had a call from a client who successfully represented a youth, with ADHD, at a 6-day trial. This involved the cross examination of very young witnesses and an abuse of process argument.

On these basics alone, does anyone disagree that this case is "out of the ordinary" in comparison with the "generality of criminal casework"?

There was lots and lots of stuff published about CDS procurement, BVT or otherwise at the end of last week. I got a bit to stuck into reading it rather than blogging about it so here are some links. There is a "post code" tool in there which will allow you to check which Duty schemes you will have access to in July for instance. Plus various other essential reading.

Out and about talking to people about it for much of the week.

To much derision from my eldest muppet ("even his name tells you how boring he is") we are off to see David Gray in Newcastle tonight (the wobbly headed singer not the law firm). Latest album is good as are the new Lyle Lovett and Them Crooked Vultures which I bought this week. Will look for a good vid of the latter (muppet approved) for next week - or should that be the best Xmas song of all time instead?

You no longer get any cinnamon biscutes with your coffee. They do have ITV 4 so I can watch the match though.

I am away training on Peer Review way out West - very unusual. I also look to a very heavy couple of weeks on the road in the offing - feels like old times. Will need a new car soon.

As ever Legal Aid is under consideration in the Gazette.

This deals with the reality of "CDS lower fund spend whilst
this offers depressing projections about the future of provision.

I will be spending some time with an Immigration client this week in an attempt to "extrapolate" from their live procurement exercise across to next years mainstream civil bidding, especially the ranking factors. It seems likely that the final detail of the exact "scoring criteria" for Family and Social Welfare law will not be be released until very close to the opening of the window in early February.

This will form the basis for this Friday's Webinar.

It is the 2nd Annual Fire Brigades Charity bash tonight and we are performing again - with an entirely new set!!!

It is December and we are finishing with this:

The proposals for the replacement of the current Criminal VHCC panel are announced.

Main objective?

"Each scheme proposal would need to deliver savings of the same magnitude as the 2007/08 Panel tendering exercise"

Enjoy.

Unsurprisingly, given my Jonah like influence on recent external events, the train is 30 mins late, technical fault experienced near Spennymoor. Never mind the train wi fi seems to be working and so I can now whack of a quick post.

(In line with current luck the most fidgety woman of all time has just joined at Northallerton making this twice as difficult as usual).

I am with clients for the next few days but hope to bring an update on NMS restrictions/reductions in the near future.

Sorry for the radio silence around here recently. A range of work and domestic factors (no central heating for over a week) have intervened. I hope to be back on track this week though I am away in London on Wednesday and Thursday.

Any how here is news of our 2 webinars in December - an ideal Christmas present!!

Legal Aid a Users Round Up

There are so many LSC initiatives and activities going on at present that it is easy to lose touch. This course is an attempt to summarise all the smaller issues, individually too small to justify a course of their own, to which firms might have to respond.

We will cover issues such as contract reconciliation, UPOA (outstanding payments on account) live consultations and much more.

Should we have more information on next years procurement rounds we will include some of that too. In any event we are setting aside next weeks, last webinar of the year, Friday 11th December, to provide a guide to essential, post Xmas "Preparation for Procurement".