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. 

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. 

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 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.

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. 

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. 

IN accordance with the Pre-Action Protocol for Judicial Review Claims, solicitors acting for the Bar Council have written to the Legal Aid Minister, Lord Bach and to the Chairman of the Legal Services Commission, Sir Bill Callaghan in order to advance proceedings for judicial review of the Government’s consultations on criminal legal aid. 

The consultations concern the Advocates’ Graduated Fee Scheme and Very High Cost Cases (VHCCs) scheme which have been initiated by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and the Legal Services Commission (LSC) respectively. The Bar Council’s action follows the rejection by the MoJ and the LSC of the Bar’s request that the Government should combine the deadlines for responses to these consultations and to join them to the timetable for the response to the proposed consultation on a single graduated fee for Crown Court cases. A full pre-action letter will be sent shortly.