The Gazette 1992

GAZETTE

N W

MARCH 1992

Society Seeks Substantial Increase in

Criminal Aid Fees

The Criminal Law Committee of the

Law Society has made a submission

to the Department of Justice seeking

a substantial increase in fees payabie

to solicitors operating the Criminal

Legal Aid Scheme.

The submission notes widespread

concern amongst the legal profession

that the Scheme is at present paying

a rate of remuneration for criminal

defence work far below the true

worth of the work undertaken to

such an extent that participating

lawyers are incurring substantial

losses on cases undertaken. The

submission makes several

fundamental criticisms of how the

Scheme is operating and says that

these must be addressed. " I n order

to ensure that the Scheme can meet

its statutory and constitutional

obligations, the level of payment for

work must be adjusted to bring it

into line with the true cost of the

work and thereby ensure that a

legally-aided accused is not

disadvantaged in the preparation

of his defence by his lack of

means."

Comparisons

The submission draws a number of

comparisons which show that the

fees currently payable under the

Criminal Legal Aid Scheme are far

short of the mark. The submission

argues that in a number of cases

(mainly involving retrials), which

were dealt with on the basis of costs

being awarded against the State and

taxed (or agreed) on that basis, in

general the Criminal Legal Aid fee

would have been less than one third

of the fee actually paid and

independently assessed. Secondly, an

assessment of the fees payable for

other civil work, also on the basis of

independent taxation of costs in the

Circuit Court, High Court and

Supreme Court, shows that the fees

payable under the Criminal Legal

Aid Scheme are totally out of line,

varying in some cases between a

factor of four and eight times too

low.

The Criminal Law Committee says in

its submission: "in assessing what we

consider to be a reasonable

remuneration in the average case, we

have taken into account the pressure

on State funding, and the positive

factors from an accused's point of

view of having a system of criminal

legal aid available. However, we have

also had regard to the increasingly

complex nature of the practice of

Criminal Law due to the

combination of scientific and

investigative advances and the

complexity of legislation both

domestic and EC. We conclude that

all the objective evidence suggests

that, on a case by case analysis, the

practice of Criminal Law is more

time consuming, specialist and

carries a greater level of

responsibility than other types of

work. For the Criminal Legal Aid

System to function effectively, this

must be recognised in the rates of

remuneration."

Trials on Indictment

The submission says that the current

provision of the Scheme linking a

solicitor's instructions fee to

counsel's brief fee is totally

unrealistic. In every comparable type

of civil case that is referred to

taxation, as well as cases where costs

are agreed with the State authorities,

it is invariably accepted that the bulk

of the expense in preparing a case

for trial is borne by the solicitor and

this is reflected in the instructions

fee which is generally four to six

times counsel's brief fee. Therefore,

the submission proposes that the

instructions fees must be increased

substantially and the existing linkage

with counsel's fee ended. The

submission goes on to suggest a level

of fee for the average trial on

indictment. In more complex

cases, a scheme could be agreed

along the lines of that agreed

between the Bar Council and the

Director of Public Prosecutions.

District Court Fees

The simplest way to arrive at a fair

scale of fees for criminal District

Court work, the submission argues,

would be to relate the fees to the

present statutory scale of fees for

that Court (which are due for

immediate increase), taking into

account that in every instance, the

costs of a successful defence are

the same as the costs of a successful

prosecution. The submission then

goes on to detail appropriate

levels of payment for pleas,

defences, adjournments and refresher

fees.

The submission also states that

provision should be made urgently

for payment for attendances at

Garda stations.

Members of the Criminal Law

Committee presented the submission

to officials of the Department of

Justice at a meeting on 19 February

last. The submission is now being

considered by the Department and

further discussions are due to take

place in the near future.

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Conveyancing

Handbook

Please note that copies of the

Conveyancing Handbook are still

available at the introductory price of

£10 up until 31 March, 1992. As and

from 1 April, 1992 the price of the

Handbook will be £25.

Any enquiries should be directed

Linda Kirwan,

Solicitor, The

Law Society, Blackhall Place,

Dublin 7.

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