In brief: Bar suggests ways to cut legal aid costs

The Bar Council last week attacked government plans to scrap legal aid for cases with less than a 75 per cent chance of success and put forward its own proposals for tightening up access to public funds. The Bar wants a variable legal aid merits test where, for example, simple money actions should have "good" prospects but personal injury cases or actions involving a novel point of law might only have a "reasonable" chance (see Focus, page 8).