First an apology for my reliance on the statement below. There is no response from the MOJ but urgent action is needed.

“Our Chair has been attending a vitual meeting with the criminal law committee. The outcome of which we can share:

LAA has been asked to confirm that full PS fee is payable if the matter is handled by phone . That would mean of course more than just an advice call . So disclosure is emailed or seen at station , client is fully advised by phone and/ or you are present on the phone for the interview . Response expected within 48 hours .

Wet and digital signatures . You will have seen the update on yesterday's guidance. LAA will accept no signature if circumstances dictate ( which will be in almost every case at PS or court I would guess as no one is going to be exchanging bits of paper and pens ) provided there's a note as to why and a supervisors signature . The latter is considered to be overkill , so TLS raising that with LAA

What is happening around the country with Mags lists varies it seems from area to area . In some places , the courts have contacted sols to say everything ( apart from custody , bail breaches etc etc ) is being postponed for 3 weeks, May , June . Other areas ( like here for example have just put something out for cases only this week , other areas saying they'll update at 9am daily . ...wholly unsatisfactory because nothing is going to change in 24 hours . Why don't they just bite the bullet and put everything ( apart from above ) off for a couple of months ? TLS is raising this with them

Everyone will be interested in the financial aspects . LAA is apparently looking at cash flow problems and thinking about interim payments . TLS is very interested to hear about any examples of firms laying people off ( ie permanently not just on a temp basis ) , closing, going out of business and so on . Please let me know if you hear of any and I will forward to Richard Miller . TLS making reps to LAA about the economic crisis facing LA firms .

There was much discussion about a suitable police station protocol. There are protocols that are being drafted with some police forces. they follow these lines , is it necessary to interview ? So summary only , public order , drink drive and cases where there is sufficient evidence to charge ( eg complainant has 100 calls from ex who is on a restraining order ) no need to interview really , so if unnecessary , then either charge or RUI .If necessary to I/V then what kind of I/V . Can it be done remotely . If yes, then important that not only lawyer is remote but also the Police officer . Some may worry that if this became a protocol now , then after the crisis it will become the norm . There is a categoric no to this , in that the Police will only agree it as a temp measure . And as Richard Atkinson has said , just because I might now agree to not hugging my parents , doesn't mean that I'm agreeing never to do it again . This protocol is for the safety of us and our employees .”

I am sorry to say that I relied upon the above suggested protocol and the firm,Takk and co, that I work for have adopted it . There is no definitive guidance from the MOJ which is desperately needed.

The events that have happened in China,Iran,Italy and now Spain, indicate that in two weeks time ,we will have a similar if not worse situation here. In order to keep the death toll at a similar level to Italy it is important and vital to keep the number of people infected to a minimum.

I have contacted the Lord Chancellor but he is unlikely to take any notice of me.

Would you be able to urgently contact the him to give guidance as a matter of urgency.

1. Operating a triage system at each custody centre. We , solicitors are officers of the Supreme Court of England and Wales. We are willing to be part of the triage crew. Manned by one of us and a superintendent of police. Superintendent could have a power of veto over the category that he or she puts the suspect.

The reason that I say is this ,for example,I was on duty last weekend and only 1 out of the 8 people I represented,really should have been held for between 10 to 18 hours.

2. Liaise with police to operate telephone/email disclosure ; telephone advice and or Skype advise. Then have a Skype presence throughout the interview

3. If 3 is followed, regulations are needed to pay us the full police station fee.

If the above procedure or equivalent is not followed,the certainty is that the number of lawyers affected is going to be disproportionate to the general population.

There is precedent for this. In the Black Death ,ALL lawyers died.

I am not ,being dramatic,I am going by the figures.

You could be like my youngest son,say that the news about the deaths are fake news and do nothing .

On Thu, 26 Mar 2020 at 16:51, John Middlehurst (via members list)

<members@mail.lccsa.org.uk> wrote:

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Well said Jaqueline!

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Amphlett Lissimore
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From: members@mail.lccsa.org.uk <members@mail.lccsa.org.uk> On Behalf Of Jacqueline Nuth
Sent: 26 March 2020 12:26
To: Joe Mensah-Dankwah <Joemensah@foresterssolicitors.co.uk>
Cc: Mark Troman <MarkTroman@psplaw.co.uk>; members@mail.lccsa.org.uk
Subject: Re: Guidance

Dear Mark

Thank you for the clarification.

This is a difficult time for all but I would ask everyone to have consideration for the freelancers amongst us who do not have the luxury of a salary to fall back on. I fully endorse and support the decisions being made and appreciate they are being made to protect us all.

The reality for freelancers, as you know, is that for a majority of us is that if we do not work we do not eat. Therefore I appeal to all partners to ensure that outstanding payments are paid to the relevant Freelancers particularly at this time.

You know who you are.

Jacqueline Nuth

Sent from my iPad

On 26 Mar 2020, at 10:56, Joe Mensah-Dankwah <Joemensah@foresterssolicitors.co.uk> wrote:

In a tel chat with my contract manager yesterday, I set out my strategy for dealing with any police station work that comes, as consisting of dealing entirely on the phone. She was completely sympathetic. Her only regret was that if the police refused to co-operate and I handed the case back to DSCC, there might be someone else who would accept the work.

Let us all refuse to attend in person and only deal with cases over the phone. See if the world explodes.

Joe Mensah-Dankwah

Foresters Solicitors Limited.

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From: members@mail.lccsa.org.uk <members@mail.lccsa.org.uk> on behalf of Mark Troman <MarkTroman@psplaw.co.uk>
Sent: Thursday, March 26, 2020 10:44:57 AM
To: members@mail.lccsa.org.uk <members@mail.lccsa.org.uk>
Subject: Guidance

Dear members,

We are aware that all of you are facing tough decisions at this time. We are in discussions with other representative bodies to issue advice to organisations on how to protect staff and their agents, to whom they also owe a responsibility. We are working as fast as we can in a fast-changing environment.

Our message to employees and freelancers is clear however. You do not need to put yourself in danger by attending police stations and courts in person; it is not safe. No one should require you to.

Kind regards,

Mark Troman

Vice President

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