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Inside court: Lawyers' job fears over legal aid shake-up

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Published Date: 13 August 2008
By Michael Howie
CRIMINAL defence lawyers have for months been warning of the dire consequences to their firms – and the wider legal profession – of controversial changes to legal aid.
Lawyers in district courts say that fees for most cases have fallen from £500 to £300, while in sheriff courts they are down from £680 to about £500 per case.

The Scottish Government says the changes are needed to ensure the taxpayer receives v
alue for money in a criminal justice system that has been overhauled in recent years.

More cases are being resolved before they go to court, with fewer being stretched over numerous hearings and many months. Ministers say the legal aid changes reflect these reforms.

When the changes were introduced in spring, lawyers warned that hundreds of jobs could potentially be lost. In protest, they imposed a work-to-rule policy when dealing with accused people appearing from custody.

Now, Scotland's largest solicitors' association has called a special meeting of the Law Society for Scotland to discuss what defence lawyers are calling the biggest crisis to hit the profession.

The Glasgow Bar Association, which represents a third of the country's 1,400 criminal lawyers, is reporting that jobs are already being axed at criminal defence firms.

One senior association figure told The Scotsman: "We are aware of jobs being cut. The consequences on the wider legal profession could be disastrous.

"We are staring at a situation where there will be no career for the next generation of defence lawyers.

"We are seriously concerned about the situation and we can't wait for several months to talk about this and do something."

The latter remark is in response to the Law Society's more cautious stance on the issue. It is said to be "perplexed" by the Glasgow Bar Association's move to requisition a meeting at the society's Drumsheugh Gardens offices, in Edinburgh, next Friday.

While the new legal aid regime will be top of the agenda, solicitors will also discuss wide criminal justice reforms, including more cases being "diverted" from prosecution through greater use of fiscal fines and warning letters.

A law society source said it has already set up a review committee to collect feedback from lawyers on the impact of the legal aid changes.

The source added: "We are going back to the Scottish Government with that at the end of the year."



Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 12 August 2008 10:09 PM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
 
1

Soup kitchen,

13/08/2008 00:05:47
Oh god, please tell me this isn't true.

If their fees fall they may start advising their client to co-operate with the courts rather than spin things out for the cash.

Then next thing you know justice is being passed swiftly although there is nowhere to put them and no-one to catch them because the SNP are as bad as Labour.
2

Guga II,

Rockall 13/08/2008 01:04:59
#1 Soup for Brains.

I thought you were "highly skilled and moving abroad"? Any chance of you going very soon?




3

Murray in Canada,

Salt Spring Island 13/08/2008 01:41:40
Can someone spell out what these changes are?
4

2Right,

On Location 13/08/2008 02:32:33
Are Lawyers the only ones with fees taking a tumble instead of increasing with inflation ?
Time maybe for Mr MacAskill to stand down!

#3
A drop of £200 and £180, Who else would stand for a drop like this in their pay packets ?

Bye Bye Mr Mac Law Society are up in arms and your days are hopefully numbered.

So much for the debt our country owes to Lawyers.
5

Auld Twa,

Edinburgh 13/08/2008 08:10:16
Why don't make legal aid available only to first offenders ?
Would we be right in assuming that would save a lot of our money.
6

Campaign Lawer,

Elgin 13/08/2008 08:30:23
I have absolutely no sympathy for these “Legal Eagles”, sorry “Legal Vultures”.
They have been boasting to their family and friends about how much they have been ripping off not only the Public but the Legal Aid Board for years.
7

open,

west coast 13/08/2008 08:36:15
The Scottish Legal Aid Board require to be forced to open their books and to the disgusting decisions they make and the main cause of mass homelessness and asset stripping in Scotland.

Controlled by lawyers and judges with secret society leanings and used to fleece thousands of victims yearly to fund the trough corrupt lawyers feed out of .Our group can testify to the bully boy network that operates within the legal aid board that is the biggest cause of the loss of assets of many thousands of victims every year.
This is only one of many horrendous decisions that seldom if ever gets challenged by lawyers who feed off this fund .These decisions should be able to be laid before a jury as to the fairness of decisions made behind closed doors. But that has been usurped in Scotland in secretive civil court cases

Despite endless evidence gathering at the Scottish Parliament as to how they operate and at least two inquiries into their operations they continue the reign of tyranny that blights ALL of Scotland and the corruption at the top will in time be stopped by the victims uniting against their abuses.

LJPR LEGAL JUDICIAL POLITICAL REFORMERS

Steps to a jury and democracy

(1) we demand our Right to Trial by Jury in any action
(2) the Judiciary deny us that Right
(3) we deny that they have the power to do so by saying, "I do not consent to be without a Jury and I Challenge the Jurisdiction of the Court."
(4) a Jury determines the Jurisdiction of the Court (of which a Judge is an Officer) and
(5) once a Jury overrules the Judge, the TRIAL re-commences BY JURY
8

Man On Corstorphine Omnibus,

Edinburgh 13/08/2008 12:17:04
So we should feel sorry for these people? They defend the scum of the earth in court, knowing that in most cases their "clients" are guilty as charged. Also, have you noticed how, in recent years, there has been a huge increase in guilty verdicts being appealed - usually on the most spurious of grounds? Just another excuse to pad out their publicly-funded fees.
If you go to court remember that the biggest crook might not be the person in the dock - but the guy in the wig trying to defend him
9

A Scott,

Glasgow 13/08/2008 13:51:01
Once again we hear the greedy snouts in the trough b,stds moaning about legal aid. For years QC,s like Findlay and Jackson have milked the public dry makin fortunes out of death and robbery. what do you call a hundred lawyers at the bottom of the sea ............a start.
10

Old Cartha Boy,

High Court Edinburgh 13/08/2008 15:02:41
How do lawyers sleep at night! Look at the defences offered by the two knobs who defended two bad lads whose only offence was to use an improvised flame thrower against someone who was THOUGHT to be preying on local kids. "My client was peed out of his mind on drink and concnered that any sentence would refelct badly when his earlier case on which he is out on bail is heard". Thnk you, and that will be 350 guineas of taxpayers money please. Lawyers are lower than the scum they defend.
11

,

13/08/2008 16:24:37
Comment Removed By Administrator
Reason:
12

open,

west coast 13/08/2008 17:01:40
11 I still don't believe it

Another law society troll and reported for personal insults and in breach of the terms of use of this forum
13

ultravires,

Edinburgh 13/08/2008 20:34:10
Steady chaps, nothing is as it seems.

Civil litigation fees are on the rise and will compensate those firms handsomely who don't solely rely on criminal work.

Remember who sets and regulates legal fees .. oh that would be the Law Society of Scotland, who are now up in arms over the alleged slashing of criminal legal aid payments.

Who among you could write a letter for a client of 3 lines on an A4 letter for £130 plus VAT ... and rising ? .. but you can't do it because you aren't members of the Law Society of Scotland which is why the legal services market must be opened up to competition.

#4 "2 Right"

I seem to have watched a video of Mr MacAskill making that very statement on You Tube where I just happen to have found the link : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKeEbJHOjLA

Who on earth could get away with making such a claim to the Scottish voters one wonders ? Only a lawyer would claim such a thing that Scotland can't do without lawyers.

 

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