A PIONEERING legal service has been opened in Darlington.

The town is one of only eight places in the country to be selected to have a Public Defender Service (PDS) office.

Public Defenders are solicitors employed by the Government through the Legal Services Commission.

They offer a full range of defence services for people accused of a crime, from visits to police stations to representing clients in court.

The Public Defenders are not paid by their clients and so can only take on cases covered by Legal Aid.

A PDS system already exists in the US and the Government is hoping that it will prove popular in the UK and improve the quality of solicitors in both the public and private sector.

Peter Bradford, head of the Darlington branch, said: "It is all about providing a quality service to those who need and want to be represented by a criminal solicitor from the public sector.

"Unlike private solicitors who have to worry about their business and making money we can concentrate entirely on the client as we are a non-profit making organisation. We hope this will increase standards in the profession."

Mr Bradford stressed that the solicitors working from the office in Houndgate were independent from the Government and clients would notice nothing different from seeking advice from a private solicitor.

As well as building up a client base, the PDS is feeding back information to the Legal Services Commission to help it understand the problems within the legal system, such as recruitment and reducing costs.

Opening the Darlington offices Anthony Edwards, professional head of the PDS, said: "Initially the Government saw these offices as acting as benchmarks for the quality and cost of criminal defence work.

"It is clear that they have much more to offer.

They are providing the Legal Services Commission with an insight into the real problems of criminal practice and are enabling us to develop systems and documents which can be offered for use by the rest of the profession."