LAWYERS embroiled in a bitter dispute over legal aid fees have shared in almost £1.3m from the public purse over the past three years.

Hundreds of solicitors are threatening to boycott cases involving alleged sex offenders in a dispute over legal aid that has been condemned as “shocking and disgraceful” by Jack McConnell.

However, figures obtained from the Scottish Legal Aid Board show that the firms of the leading legal figures involved in the dispute are benefiting handsomely under the current system.

The firm run by Vincent McGovern, president of the Hamilton Bar Association, received more than £450,000 between 2003 and 2005.

McClay & Co, a company set up by Gerard McClay, president of the Glasgow Bar Association, received £345,000 over the same period.

Graeme Runcie & Co, run by Graeme Runcie of the Edinburgh Bar Association and a member of the Law Society’s legal aid solicitors committee, claimed £275,000. A firm run by Oliver Adair, the committee’s convener, pocketed £200,000.

The scale of the payments has angered some politicians, who accused lawyers of putting public safety at risk by threatening not to represent alleged sex offenders.

“Some firms are clearly making an awful lot of money and while I accept some of the smaller firms may have a point, it is no excuse for putting the public at risk,” said Elaine Murray, Labour MSP for Dumfries. “It appears as if the legal profession is targeting the general public.”

The lawyers claim that ministers have broken their promise to revise legal aid payments that have remained unchanged for 14 years.

They are targeting sex offence cases because people accused of such crimes are not allowed to cross-examine witnesses in court, so without a defence agent, trials cannot go ahead. The Glasgow Bar Association led the campaign and was soon backed by the Edinburgh, Hamilton and Dumbarton bar associations.

Last week Falkirk, Aberdeen, Stirling, Lanark and Dumfries, among others, joined the protest.

Last year more than £94m was paid in legal aid for criminal case work.

Currently, solicitors are paid about £66 an hour for representing clients in serious cases in the Sheriff or High courts.

The executive planned to introduce a system of block fees last year but this has now been delayed until 2007. The society estimates that rates will need to rise by 50% from 1992 rates to cover inflation.

Last week McGovern said that the legal aid money that his firm received had to pay business overheads including insurance and Vat.

He added that he received no benefits in kind if he was off work or on holiday.

“I am a sole practitioner who cannot cover the volume of work I have and have to pay other solicitors every day to cover the work,” he said.

Adair declined to comment on the legal aid payments received by his firm, adding that he had been negotiating with the Scottish executive to try to resolve the dispute.

Mary Lockhart, a spokeswoman for Scottish Women’s Aid, said: “It’s hard enough to get lawyers to take on domestic abuse cases because they are more complex. If the system is at breaking point, something has to give, but the people who will suffer are those who need the services of lawyers.”

Margaret Mitchell, the Conservative justice spokeswoman, condemned the strike action but said ministers had to shoulder the blame.

“The strike action cannot be condoned. But recent reforms are working well and the executive said they would recognise the impact these had on working practices. That has not happened.”

McClay and Runcie did not return calls from The Sunday Times.

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