The Scottish government is paying a heavy price in a dispute about fees with lawyers in the remote Orkney Islands.

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Because solicitors in the Orkneys are refusing to represent criminal defendants at the current fee scale, lawyers are being flown from Inverness about twice a month. The Scotsman reported. Each trip costs the taxpayers between 100 and 300 pounds ($174 to $532).

The firm of solicitors -- lawyers under the British system who handle criminal cases and brief the barristers who appear at trial -- that had been dealing with court appearances for defendants in custody announced it was bowing out because fees were too low.

No other solicitors in the islands are willing to step up for 44.4 pounds ($76) for the first case of the day and 6 pounds ($10) for any subsequent defendants.

"They are good people at the legal aid board but I cannot help feeling that, politically, a lot of people are quite happy to see legal aid die the death of a thousand cuts," said David Fairnie, a junior partner in the Lows firm of Kirkwall.