Legal Aid

Michael Mansfield QC received an award for “outstanding achievement” at this year’s Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year Awards. 

The Bar must fight to prevent further cuts in criminal legal aid fees and aim for rate restoration as soon as possible. Nick Green QC considers how this can be achieved 

A new “hub” for national pro bono work will open at 48 Chancery Lane this summer, marking a significant milestone for charitable work by lawyers. 

Barristers Dominic Grieve QC and Edward Garnier QC have been appointed Attorney General and Solicitor General respectively in the new Con–Lib Dem coalition government. 

The Criminal Bar Association (“CBA”) and the Young Barristers’ Committee (“YBC”) are calling a meeting to debate the effects of cuts to criminal legal aid fees.

The Legal Aid Practitioners Group have unveiled their shortlist for the Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year Awards 2010 (“the LALYs”).
Rabinder Singh QC, of Matrix Chambers, Mark Henderson, of Doughty Street, and Stephen Cottle, of Garden Court Chambers, are the finalists for the Legal Aid Barrister Award, sponsored by the Bar Council. 

The Bar Council is changing its emphasis, writes Nick Green QC. It wishes to communicate with the Bar’s clients – and potential clients – the benefits, such as the cost effectiveness, of using the Bar 

The only person who was more surprised than I when the new Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice was announced was Ken Clarke QC MP himself. Nonetheless, he looked resplendent in his robes when he was sworn in, at 9.30 on 14 May in Court 4 at the Royal Courts of Justice. The entire court was awash with finery since all available judiciary were present in full garb. The formality of the event was nicely counterbalanced by the Lord Chief Justice and the Lord Chancellor exchanging jokes about brown suede shoes. In addition, the Attorney General, Dominic Grieve QC MP, and Solicitor General, Edward Garnier QC MP, were also welcomed by the Lord Chief Justice to their roles. All three of the Ministry top team are barristers, as the Lord Chief recalled during the welcome when he reminded the Lord Chancellor of a divorce case in which they had been adversaries during the 1960s. 

Criminal defence barristers face a fees reduction of 13.5 per cent over three years after the government rushed ahead with controversial cuts to legal aid. 

On 6 April the government laid a statutory instrument before Parliament that imposes cuts of 4.5 per cent to all Advocates Graduated Fees Scheme (“AGFS”) payments from 27 April, and further cuts of 4.5 per cent each for the next two consecutive years.  

Cases lasting for periods up to and including 60 days will be funded under the AGFS scheme with effect from 14 July. Refreshers after 40 days will be paid at half the full rate. Very High Cost Cases funding will still apply if the case extends beyond 60 days. 

Paul Mendelle QC, Chair of the Criminal Bar Association, said: “The mood at the criminal Bar is one of anger, bitterness and frustration.
“The 13.5 per cent cut to AGFS will all but wipe out the modest Carter rises of 2007 which themselves did little more than restore the value of fees that had been unchanged for a decade, ten years in which their true value had been eroded by both inflation and the burden of the extra unpaid work imposed on us. The extension of AGFS to 60 days while refreshers after 40 days remain at half the full rate is just plain irrational and will unfairly penalise those who undertake longer cases.” 

Paul Mendelle QC and Bar Chairman, Nick Green QC, hit out in a joint letter to barristers at the speed with which the changes were introduced—six days after the 1 April closing date of the consultation on “Reforming Advocates Graduated Fees”—and questioned whether the consultation was “genuine”. 

“It might not surprise you that we were not offered the minimal courtesy of a simple letter beforehand to notify us of these changes,” they wrote, “and you might consider that the time which elapsed between the close of the consultation and the decision to lay the SI indicates a scant regard for the content of the submissions which were made to the government.” 

The Bar Council has now instructed leading counsel to advise on the case for a judicial review—although this is unlikely to go ahead until after the General Election. 

The MoJ said the phased introduction of the fee reforms—rather than implementing a one-off cut of 17.9 per cent, which was another proposed option—would reduce the impact on more junior advocates and give advocates more time to adjust to the changes.  

THE Bar Council, the Approved Regulator for barristers in England and Wales, has appointed Toby Craig as its first Head of Communications. 

Changes to legal aid system in England and Wales are incompatible with rule of law. 

SPEAKINGin Vienna at the 38th Annual Conference of European Bar Leaders, the Chairman of the Bar, Nicholas Green QC said the latest round of proposed cuts in criminal legal aid in England and Wales, coupled with the absence of a clear strategic vision for the future of legal aid were placing the country’s justice system at risk. Echoing the concerns of the recent report of the Public Accounts Committee, The procurement of legal aid in England and Wales by the Legal Services Commission (HC 322), Nick Green drew attention to the chaotic way in which legal aid policy and administration is being conducted, and the way that this is endangering the rule of law. The Public Accounts Committee criticised the LSC, amongst other things, for failing to get a grip of its financial management, for weak internal controls (leading to its accounts for 2008-09 being qualified) and for threatening the long-term future of the junior criminal Bar and placing the quality of advocacy in the Crown Court at risk. The Committee criticised the LSC for the lack of a clear strategic direction (reflected in its poor management of changes initiated following Lord Carter’s review of legal aid in 2006). Significantly, the Committee found that the LSC’s failings were such that it was not able to demonstrate that its management of the legal aid funds was delivering value for money. The Government is proposing to cut criminal legal aid fees in order to “safeguard” civil legal aid. However, instead of transferring any savings from criminal legal aid to civil legal aid, the total funds for legal aid will be reduced as part of the Government’s plans to cut public expenditure. 

On the eve of the Conference, Nick Green QC said: 

‘This conference has the rule of law as one of its key themes, something which every democracy has at its centre. However, reform of public funding for the legal aid system in England and Wales has become so chaotic that access to justice is being seriously weakened. The Bar cannot stand by and allow the legal aid system to face further arbitrarycuts. The Bar Council and the Criminal Bar Association have worked hard to put forward realistic and practical solutions to the Ministry of Justice and the Legal Services Commission in these difficult economic times. But the way in which the most recent consultations on Very High Costs Cases and the Advocates’ Graduated Fee Scheme have been conducted has left us no option but to take the first step towards a judicial review of the legality of their consultations, in the public interest.’