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July 2007
Lawyers paid more than victims received in compensation
Almost 300,000 miners with a disabling chest disease received less money in
compensation than it cost the Government to administer their claim.
It
was the world’s largest personal injury scheme, and there were long delays
before many elderly and infirm miners received any money. The scheme proved
to be lucrative for solicitors’ firms, which grew rich by bulk-processing
tens of thousands of claims.
£4.1 billion was paid in compensation.
The
administrative costs came to an additional £2.3 billion. More than 55 per
cent of that - £1.3 billion - will have been paid into the bank accounts of
several hundred law firms.
The
National Audit Office revealed that the “top ten” solicitors’ firms
have already been paid a total of £636 million, with two earning more than
£115 million each.
By
contrast, 69 per cent - 296,000 - of the 430,000 miners who have been
awarded compensation for lung disease received less than the £3,200 that, on
average, it costs the department to administer each claim.
Tens of thousands of former miners, or their widows and estates, have
received awards of less than £1,000. The lowest award was 50p.
The
report is available from the National Audit Office,
here
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September 2007:
Jack Straw, Lord Chancellor and Minister for Justice
In England and Wales the spending on legal aid amounts to £34 a head,
compared with £10 in New Zealand, £7 in Ireland, £4 in Germany and £3 in
France.
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July 2007:
In
the New Law Journal (July 2007), Adrian Turner, a barrister and and
co-editor of Stone’s Justices’ Manual said,
"The Government’s top-down style of
management has been as negative in the criminal justice system as it has
in health, education and elsewhere.
The financial squeeze on publicly funded defence work is driving away the
more conscientious and leaving behind just the cost and corner cutting
operators. Most regrettably, however, the government has shied away from
tackling many of the big issues. Unless something is quickly done about
trial by jury we shall soon see a state of paralysis in the crown court."
William Clegg, QC, head of 2 Bedford Row Chambers, summed up the views of
many in the legal profession when he said: "I cannot think of anything the
government has done in the last 10 years that could be described as good."
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2007:
Carter Review provokes withdrawal of services by barristers and
solicitors in many parts of the country. A legal action for Judicial
Review taken by the Black Solicitors Network (BSN) and the Society of
Asian Lawyers (SAL) ended when the government agreed to undertake impact
assessments of the changes. The dispute became heated with the
government minister hosting 'road shows' throughout the UK.
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July 2006:
The Carter Review (Final Report):
In: The words "Legal Aid" are back.
In: Savings of £100m a year.
In: Reduction of the £2 billion a year.
In: Bidding for legal aid contracts.
In: Block grant for the duration of the contract from police station
to court.
In: Cases to finish as quickly as possible
In: Quality and efficiency.
In: Paving the way for “Tesco law”.
In: Better pay for junior barristers.
 Out: Barristers earning
over £1m.
Out: No pay for
travelling time and waiting.
Out: Current system for
paying for lengthy crown court cases.
Out: Solicitors will no
longer be paid by the hour.
Out: Fewer law firms
taking on legal aid work, the end of many high street solicitors.
The latest proposals from Lord Carter of Coles
(which followed a government review) will save £100m a year from the legal aid bill which costs the tax payer £2
billion a year and it will be a significant departure from the current
system and would lead to fewer law firms taking on legal aid work. Although
the next stage is described as consultation Lord Falconer told The Telegraph
that he is going to impose these changes.
Solicitors will have to bid for contracts to provide legal aid cover in
police stations and would receive a block grant for the duration of the
contract, including defending cases in magistrates' courts. Savings of £90m
could be obtained by not paying solicitors for travelling time and waiting
time in police stations and magistrates' courts.
Also proposed are substantial reforms to the way very lengthy crown court
cases are paid for, as currently 50% of spending on crown court hearings
goes on just 1% of cases.
He proposed expanding the current regime which deals with so-called "very
high cost cases".
The system is expected to encourage lawyers to finish cases as quickly as
possible, preserve quality and encourage efficient firms, because they are
on a fixed fee. Solicitors will no longer be paid by the hour.
The plans could spell the end for many high street legal firms.
The proposals take account of other changes which will allow outside bodies
to own law firms known as “Tesco law”.
PowerPoint presentation, on the Carter Review,
available here.
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Feb 2006:
Lord Carter issues his report on legal aid, provisional comment
available here.
There would be less money available for
criminal legal aid and changes to deal with the “legal advice
deserts” where the public are unable to find locally a solicitor to
deal with civil cases on legal aid.
The emphasis is on value for money. The report proposes targeting
resources on people who most need it, requiring those who
can contribute do so and ensuring that everyone has access
to justice.
To reduce court time in criminal matters some radical ideas are put forward
for example prosecutors to initiate discussions with defence representatives
around the point of charge. It is thought that by providing legal advice to
defendants at this point will enhance the prosecutor’s capacity to charge
accurately from the outset which is hoped to produce early guilty pleas
(the case of R v Goodyear [2005] CA
allows a judge to indicate the sentence that might follow a guilty plea).
Competition within the market will determine the rates to
be paid for services rather than relying on government to determine these
rates centrally. By holding the competitions on a regional basis for volume
work it will be possible to pay the rates necessary to ensure supply. In
other words the legal aid work will go to the lowest bidder.
In family law it is recognised that there needs to be some changes to bring
about improvements outlined in the government’s green paper
“Every Child Matters”.
Lord Carter has published his report on a market based reform
of criminal legal aid. Lord Carter was asked to conduct an independent
review to consider the means by which to deliver the Government’s vision,
set out in “A Fairer Deal for Legal Aid”, for
procuring publicly funded legal services, particularly criminal defence
services.
It is available on the legal aid procurement review website
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30
September 2005:
Lack of legal aid creates problems for Court of Appeal
Lord Philips said that almost a third of some cases heard in the Court of
Appeal are brought by litigants who make hopeless arguments and have no
chance of success and that "obsessive litigants who won't take no for an
answer" were an enormous problem for the Court of Appeal.
In one case he said the court had to issue a "civil restraint order" against
a litigant who sued or threatened to sue 13 lawyers involved with his case.
He said in the days when he practised at the Bar, unrepresented litigants
happily accepted judge's rulings. "Well, things have changed. There has
been, certainly in England, an enormous growth in litigants who simply won't
take no for an answer ... this cost the courts both time and money."
"Part of the problem certainly in England, and I suspect in common-law
countries, is the reduction in the grant of legal aid, which means we have
many more litigants in person ... If you don't have a lawyer who's putting
your case for you and able to explain why it is you lost, then it is very
much easier to say you haven't had justice because you case hasn't been
understood." |
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1 December 2004:
Legal aid available across the EU
Legal aid for civil cases will be available across all EU member states
following the
European Legal Aid Directive and regulations that came into force on 1
December 2004.
Citizens from the UK
and other EU country seeking legal aid in the UK
will have to qualify under rules laid out in the UK
domestic scheme and in the Directive. Legal aid will not be available to
those people who can afford to pay for a lawyer, who have travel insurance
that covers legal expenses or other means of paying for a lawyer for example
if the claimant could use a conditional fee agreement. Cases that have
little chance of success will not be funded.
A measure to simplify the mutual recognition of civil judgements and
cross-border enforcement is under negotiation.
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29 June 2004:
The Department for Constitutional Affairs announced that it intends to
simplify the rules for Conditional Fee Arrangements (CFAs) ("No Win No
Fee") which were hoped would promote access to justice. CFAs replaced Legal
Aid in civil cases, four years ago.
Some observers claim this will take the UK further towards an
unrestricted compensation culture.
Problems:
Defendants' costs which have risen substantially to cover the success fees,
which is part of their CFA.
CFAs are complex and opaque.
Reports that clients are being exploited by the unregulated and sometimes
unscrupulous intermediary claims management companies.
The ‘indemnity principle’, where a party cannot recover from the loser more
than he is actually liable to pay his lawyer.
Little is expected to change until late 2005.
MoJ details here
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"No win no fee"
arrangements
From 1st June 2004, in Road
Traffic Accident cases, a new scheme, brought into effect by rules of court,
will fix the success fee paid by a defendant’s insurer to the claimant’s
solicitor or barrister where they are funded by a
conditional fee agreement.
For example, insurers
will pay solicitors a 12.5 per cent success fee on top of their costs if
they win cases that settle out of court, and a 100 per cent success fee for
the riskier cases that go to trial.
In employers'
liability accident cases, a similar scheme applies, but the rates can be
higher.
MoJ website
here.
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Citizens Advice is
warning that one of the Government’s flagship policies - the modernisation
of the legal aid system - is now in danger of collapse. Access to legal aid
solicitors in
England and Wales is a postcode lottery with one in four Citizens Advice
Bureaux saying they are in an “advice desert”, according to a survey
published on 6th February 2004.
Press release
here.
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The Government
provides £2billion to fund legal services. There is funding for legal help
and (where appropriate) representation in criminal cases; in many areas of
civil law, including family law.
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July 2003
The Clementi Review into the provision of legal services is to report by the
end of 2004. It is thought that it is a move towards multi-disciplinary
legal services, referred to as "Tesco Law" because solicitors will be able
to offer services in supermarkets. Link
here.
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State
funding of legal services |
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The
Legal Services Commission
funds all legal matters
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"State Funding of
Legal Services"
(formerly Legal Aid)
for all
legal matters.
Administered
by the
"Legal
Services Commission"
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"Criminal
Defence Service"
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Criminal Legal funding
is administered by the
"Criminal
Defence Service"
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"Community Legal Advice"
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Civil Legal funding is
administered by the "Community Legal
Advice"
working with private legal services providers.
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Main functions of the
CLS
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The main functions of
the CLS are:
1. The provision of
general information about the law and legal system and the availability of
legal services,
2. The provision of
help by the giving of advice as to how the law applies in particular
circumstances,
3. The provision of
help in preventing, or settling or otherwise resolving, disputes about legal
rights and duties,
4. The provision of
help in enforcing decisions by which such disputes are resolved, and
5. The provision of
help in relation to legal proceedings not relating to disputes.
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