RENOWNED lawyer Donald Findlay QC has been knocked off the top spot of legal aid earners for the first time in six years.

The advocate fell to number three on the list of high earners in the Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) annual report – losing out on first place to ex-Labour MSP Gordon Jackson QC.

The former Rangers vice-chairman saw his earnings from legal aid cases reduced by 6% from £300,300 last year to £281,300 this year. Meanwhile, Mr Jackson’s payments rose from £265,900 to £414,700 – an increase of 56%.

Mr Findlay was also overtaken by top-10 newcomer Brian McConnachie QC who has increased his earnings by a massive 116%, taking him from number 33 to number two on the list.

The top earning solicitor advocate was named as Iain Paterson, of Paterson Bell Solicitors, who took in £263,200 in 2010/11.

However, law firm Livingstone Brown & Company gained the bulk of legal aid work and were the biggest earning practice, banking a total of £2.39 million.

The Glasgow-based firm has held the top spot for the last three years. The SLAB report showed a total of £161.4m was spent on legal aid funding in 2010/11 – an increase of 7% on the previous year.

But it also revealed that the Scottish Government’s 2011/12 budget allocation includes cuts of around £12.7m – with further expenditure reductions expected. SLAB chairman Iain Robertson CBE said: “These are challenging times for all involved in legal aid and the justice system.

“The impact of the recession has seen increased demand for legal aid to help people with legal problems who could not afford to meet the cost of these themselves.

“There are substantial pressures to reduce public expenditure. The board has, and continues to work with the government and other stakeholders to help maintain access to justice but at a lower cost to the taxpayer – this is no easy challenge.”

Figures show the VAT increase contributed to £3.5m of the increased costs, while £2.6m resulted from a rise in fees for solicitors and advocates.

Expenditure on criminal legal aid increased by £5.9m to £104m and civil costs rose by £4.9m to £52.1m.

But grants for criminal legal assistance fell by 8% – a result of fewer prosecutions being sought by the Crown Office.

At the end of March 2011, there were 12 more firms (576) and 48 more solicitors (1401) registered for criminal work compared to the same point in 2010, while 26 more firms (654) were registered to carry out civil work.

SLAB has now introduced an online system which it claims enables faster processing of cases and reduces costs for solicitors and the board.

Lindsay Montgomery CBE, chief executive of SLAB, said: “It is essential all those involved in the provision of publicly funded legal services work together to get the best value from the resources available.

“The board has been given an important new statutory duty to monitor access to legal services in Scotland and to report to ministers on this.

“We have set up a reference group including representatives from a wide range of groups including the Law Society of Scotland, Scottish Women’s Aid and Citizens Advice Scotland to help us achieve this.

“We will be doing our utmost to minimise the cost of our administration and extending the rollout of Legal Aid Online.”