When Serena Sutherland first qualified in 2008 it was rare to find someone at court without legal representation.

But 16 years on, she said she now regularly sees people in court having to represent themselves as they cannot find a solicitor working in legal aid who can take them on.

Ms Sutherland is currently the only solicitor based in Orkney who offers legal aid, although there are other solicitors based elsewhere who cover Kirkwall Sheriff Court.

"I don't think there is anyone based in Shetland who does civil legal aid cases," she added.

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Orkney solicitor Serena Sutherland (Image: Serena Sutherland) "We get loads of inquiries from people seeking legal aid who we can't help, partly because there are issues we don't cover such as non-harassment orders, disputes with neighbours, or because they are outwith our geographical area. We get calls from all over the country looking for people who require legal aid help.

"The problem is a lack of supply. When I started doing civil legal aid work in 2008 there were three firms on Orkney which were doing civil legal aid work.

"Now there is just my firm on Orkney and firms from further afield, predominantly from Glasgow, who come into do work."

However, not having a local solicitor is far from ideal as many people need to have face to face meetings to go over complex paperwork, according to Ms Sutherland.

She said the shortage of solicitors offering legal aid in her area is mostly down to the lower level of fees offered by the Scottish Legal Aid Board than the standard fees charged to private paying clients.

She added that as well as a financial disincentive not to do legal aid work, getting invoices paid by the Scottish Legal Aid Board could be time-consuming and cumbersome.

"I only do the legal aid work as I am the owner of my business so I don't have to answer to anyone else," she said.

"But if I had to answer to a board of directors or other partners, there would be no way I could justify doing any civil legal aid work at the current rates rather than focus on private clients."

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She said a divorce case for a civil legal aid client would earn her firm a fee of about £500 while for a non-legal aid client the fee would be around three or four times that amount.

"The legal aid rates are about a quarter of our private client rates - and they are not high compared to the big law firms," she said.

"There are some types of cases where we have worked out we get just a tenth of the fee from legal aid that we would from the private fee.

"There is a financial disincentive to do legal aid work. For every unit you spend on a legal aid case you are losing a third of your private rates."

She said some lawyers were put off legal aid work because of the bureaucracy involved in chasing payment of fees from the legal aid board.

"How do I put this politely? The legal aid board are very difficult to work with. You will put in an account and they will question the account and say that you should have done something differently," she said.

"So they won't pay you for work you have done, and you have to spent a lot of unpaid time fighting with them to get paid for the work you have done.

"The other day I had an account that was reduced because they said they wouldn't pay me for contact with my client...before a court hearing. Not only are you not getting paid anything close to a private rate. You end up having to argue for the fee you do get.

"So if you have a choice to do something else, the solicitors in our area do. Other work is better remuneration and doesn't involve arguing about your fee with someone."

She said there are some civil cases, such as non harassment orders, where the legal aid fees are so low that the rates offered by the Scottish Legal Aid Board do not cover the cost of the work involved.

Ms Sutherland said she carried on with legal aid work primarily because of professional conscience and also so her firm built up expertise.

"We do it because we know there are just people who cannot afford to pay privately and they need legal representation," she said.

"It is important for our community. A lot of people who are in contact disputes about their children couldn't afford to pay privately."

"I also do the work to enable me and my trainees to gain the experience of doing the work."

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The Herald asked Ms Sutherland if she feared the situation would get worse.

"Yes. It's not an easy way to make a living," she said.

"It's very hard for people to come into the profession in the north of Scotland anyway and younger people who come in see people who have been in it for a while who are now tired.

"Salaries in the central belt are higher and younger folk want to be in the big cities, where there a more opportunities and big salaries."