On Tuesday last week the Justice Alliance held a demonstration outside the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to celebrate the departure of Chris Grayling as Justice Secretary. Grayling in his term of office had become a hate figure for many legal aid lawyers and access to justice campaigners. A week later the MoJ has a new boss, Michael Gove, and many of the protesters from last week will be feeling like they have been chucked out of the frying pan and into the fire.   Gove made his name as a combative education secretary. The fear is he has been picked by the prime minister to take much the same approach to the legal system, but LAG argues that there needs to be dialogue with the new Lord Chancellor.   Linked to Gove’s appointment it is the repeal of the HRA which is grabbing the headlines at the moment, but this is more about political symbolism than radical change. Assuming the UK does not vote to leave the EU in 2017 it will remain a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights and have to abide by it. The policy of repealing the HRA is therefore a shoddy compromise waiting to happen, but putting someone identified with the right of the Conservative party in charge at the MoJ protects the prime minister’s flank.   In legal aid policy it is the pending duty tenders for criminal legal aid which is the biggest area of controversy at the moment. LAG has argued consistently that we cannot see what the government will gain from its headlong pursuit of this policy, as it will not save any money, but will reduce the number of firms and therefore competition, by two thirds at a stroke. Perhaps it’s a forlorn hope, but Gove comes to his new post with the reputation as an intelligent politician, he should re-think the tenders rather than opting for continuity of a bad policy.   Due to in large part to the judicial review on criminal duty tenders which the Law Society had backed, Chris Grayling had not met the current Law Society President, Andrew Caplen, during his term of office which ends in July. In meetings with civil servants across issues ranging from the Clients and Costs Management System (CCMS), the computerised legal aid claims system, to the rules governing the granting of legal aid in domestic violence little progress has been made. In keeping with their boss officials seemed to have pursued a line of polite disengagement from the legal profession over the last year.   If the duty criminal tenders go ahead further legal challenges seem inevitable, but for the sake of the public the break-down in meaningful dialogue between the lawyers and the MoJ over legal aid issues should not be allowed to continue. CCMS particularly, if it is made compulsory for firms from October, will have a devastating impact forcing many out of the market. CCMS at the moment simply is not fit for purpose. The new Lord Chancellor should listen to the concerns of the profession over this, rather than be swayed by officials from the Legal Aid Agency who have invested too much in the system to admit its failings.   LAG argues that much can be done within the existing legal aid budget to improve access to justice. For example the new Lord Chancellor could instruct his officials in the Legal Aid Agency to be less obstructive in considering applications for exceptional funding and to listen to the concerns around granting legal aid in domestic violence cases. Engagement with the new government is therefore the sensible course, but this is not to say we don’t also need to keep the placards on standby.   Steve Hynes, Director of LAG