The Law Society has passed a unanimous vote of no confidence in the Legal Services Commission (LSC), it emerged last week, as the Government vowed to press on with a key plank of its controversial package of reforms to the £2bn legal aid system.

Chancery Lane’s decision-making council took the vote at a meeting last week, after claiming the LSC had failed to negotiate adequately with the Law Society over new ‘unified’ civil legal aid contracts, which come into force on 1 April.