THERE were high hopes for the Scottish Government’s review of legal aid. For a start, lawyers who have been arguing for a long time that legal aid work is relatively poorly paid were hoping the review would recommend an increase in the fees for solicitors who carry out the work.
It was also hoped it would suggest improvements that could make the legal aid system more efficient and less bureaucratic. That was the hope anyway. The reality has come as a severe disappointment to many of those concerned about the state of our legal aid system in Scotland - and its future.
To be fair to Martyn Evans, the chief executive of the Carnegie UK Trust who headed up the review, his report to the Government did recommend a fundamental overhaul of the legal aid system in an attempt to make it more efficient; and Mr Evans suggested there should be regular reviews of the level of fees. However, he also went on to conclude that there was no evidence to justify immediately increasing them.
This has not gone down well with many lawyers – lawyers such as Ken Dalling who has written an open letter to Mr Evans criticising his conclusions. Mr Dalling said it was disappointing the review had dismissed the arguments for an increase in fees and said solicitors undertaking valuable legal aid work should be fairly remunerated. He also said the money spent on legal aid should be regarded as an investment, not only in the legal services industry of Scotland but also in access to justice and the rule of law.
Mr Dalling makes some entirely logical points. In a society that values fair access to justice, both sides should be equal in court, with comparable representation, which requires an accessible system of legal aid– and that must also mean solicitors being properly paid for the work they do within the system.
Of course, as Mr Dalling acknowledges in his open letter, there is some public suspicion about the idea that law firms are struggling to make legal aid financially viable, largely because there is still a broad assumption out there that all lawyers are well-off. But the reality is that legal aid work is relatively poorly paid and, because of that, an increasing number of solicitors are turning down legal aid work.
Mr Dalling’s point about the wider importance of legal aid is also critical. There is already evidence from England and Wales that the cuts to legal aid there have led to an increase in the number of defendants having to represent themselves, meaning they may be less likely to get a good defence and more likely to receive a longer sentence. That is a breach of the basic principles of justice, and – for the sake of reasonable fees for lawyers – it must not be allowed to happen here too.
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