Law Society renews call for mediation in criminal legal aid row

The call came in correspondence to Jim O’Callaghan from Law Society president Rosemarie Loftus, ahead of the formal opening of the new legal year on Monday. Picture: Niall Carson/PA Wire

The Law Society has urged the justice minister to proceed with mediation in the criminal legal aid dispute, to bridge the gap between his department and “the practical realities experienced within the courts”.

The call came in correspondence to Jim O’Callaghan from Law Society president Rosemarie Loftus, ahead of the formal opening of the new legal year on Monday.

Meanwhile, more than 100 criminal defence solicitors who practise in Dublin have voted unanimously to extend their withdrawal of services into October, and are expected to be joined in the action by others from across the country.

Under a system introduced on July 1, solicitors receive a flat fee of €520 per legal aid case, regardless of how many times they have to appear in court.

Previously, they were paid about €240 for an initial district court appearance and a further €60 for each subsequent appearance, meaning remuneration increased as cases became more protracted.

Solicitors across the country have been withdrawing their services since the courts returned after the August break in opposition to the flat fee, although some have since returned to work.

The society has renewed its call for an independent mediator, which was previously rejected by Mr O’Callaghan, who said he wanted to await the judgment due on October 13 on a High Court challenge to the reforms introduced in July.

Two key areas of concern 

The impasse remains as solicitors say two critical areas of concern remain for them – whether legal aid certificates would be issued for separate and distinct cases committed on separate dates, and whether a solicitor would be able to apply for an additional certificate where a case extends beyond ten court appearances.

In her correspondence, Ms Loftus said court users have experienced “severe disruption” since July 1, reiterating previously published figures showing a 93% reduction in the number of legal aid certificates issued in July.

She said data for August showed a fall of 86% compared with August last year, with 394 certificates issued.

“We are hugely concerned at the impact the current dispute is having on victims of crime, those accused of crime, the general public and all court users.”

Ms Loftus said the short-term impact was evident in growing backlogs in cases, but warned that the longer-term consequences would include the loss of “skilled practitioners based on the experience in the Civil Legal Aid scheme”.

She said that scheme has seen a loss of more than 60% of practising solicitors from the scheme.

‘One-size-fits-all’ approach

Ms Loftus argued that the new criminal legal aid scheme takes a “one-size-fits-all” approach which is “especially problematic as it has no regard to the complexity of cases coming before the courts”.

She added: “We believe the new scheme is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of how the district court works. It prioritises administrative efficiencies over fairness.”