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JULY/AUGUST 1992
Legal Aid and Cour ts
Need More Resour ces
At the International Young Lawyers Conference organised by the Northern Ireland Young Solicitors
Group, the Society of Young Solicitors and the Young Members Committee of the Law Society, were
l-r: Stewart Murray, President Scottish Young Lawyers' Association; Hilary Wells, Northern Ireland
Young Solicitors Group; Adrian P. Bourke, President, Incorporated Law Society of Ireland; Lord
Justice O'Donnell, and Paddy Duffy, President of the Northern Ireland Law Society.
Recently, the Society has sought
through press publicity to highlight
the fact that we live in a community
where
legal aid in civil cases
is there
in name only. Last November, the
Law Society published a
comprehensive report on the civil
legal aid system in this country,
drawing attention to its many
inadequacies. This was submitted to
the Minister for Justice. So far, we
have had no response from the
Minister on it. Only last month
FLAC drew attention to the
lengthening delays for services in
many of the legal aid centres around
the country. The plain fact is that
ordinary people, who cannot
themselves afford to pay for legal
services, are being treated very
shabbily by the State. I have no
doubt, personally, that we are in
breach of our obligations under the
EC Treaties in this respect and that,
sooner or later, a case will be taken
that will compel the government to
provide adequate funding for civil
legal aid. In our report, we have
made it clear that we believe that, as
a minimum, the original
recommendations of the Pringle
Committee - going back to 1977 -
should be implemented in full. If that
were done, it would mean that we
would have a service which would
combine both the private practitioner
and State-run law centres. In our
view, it is imperative, if there is to be
reasonable choice and reasonable
access to services and if conflict cases
in the family law area are to be dealt
with adequately, that the private
practitioner is brought into the scheme.
Criminal Legal Aid Fees are
Unrealistic
That we have as good a scheme of
criminal legal aid
as we have in this
country is due mainly to the judges
- and not to the Government. It
was their insistence that persons
charged with serious offences should
be given the services of defence
lawyers - at State expense where
they could not afford it - that led
to the development of the present
scheme. For some reason that I find
hard to comprehend, the Government
takes the view that a lawyer's services
on criminal work are worth but a
fraction - varying from one-fifth to
one-eighth - of what they command
on equivalent civil work. For that
reason, the Society has submitted a
claim for a substantial increase in the
fees payable to solicitors who
perform criminal legal aid work. By
any standard, the fees payable at the
moment are totally unrealistic and,
unless the Government meets the
reasonable demands that are being
made of them at present, it is likely
that, within the next few months,
many solicitors will seriously
reconsider their participation on the
Criminal Legal Aid Panel. That's
how bad the situation is.
Legal Aid System Worst in Europe
The total budget for legal aid in this
country is about £4.5m.
Approximately £2.5m of this is spent
on civil legal aid and about £2m on
criminal legal aid. In England, by
contrast, the total legal aid budget is
close to £1 billion. When due
allowance is made for population
difference, it emerges that the British
are spending about
ten times
the
amount that we spend on legal aid.
In .other European countries the
picture is much the same. I have no
hesitation in saying that, in all
probability, we have the worst legal
aid system in Europe and, if the
Minister for Justice wishes to dispute
that, let him do so.
Courts Services need more Resources
As well as substantial improvements in
our legal aid system, our courts
service and court administration badly
need additional resources. Delays in
civil cases in some Circuit Court areas
are now very serious and there seems
very little prospect that they will
improve in the short-term. The
position in the High Court is also
quite unacceptable at present. Delays
in civil cases now run to two years or
longer. Moreover, the system of listing
cases itself is in urgent need of
overhaul. The problems in the Courts
can only be solved by the
appointment of more judges and extra
back-up staff. We would like to see
more judges appointed and we have in
the past made some suggestions -
and will again in the near future -
about widening the pool from which
they are chosen. I think that increased
use of technology would also be of
enormous benefit and I would urge
the Department of Justice to provide
the necessary resources to enable these
changes to be effected quickly.
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