‘Highly discourteous’ of solicitors not to inform courts of legal aid withdrawal, judge says

'The court has received no formal notice of any such action being taken from any group of solicitors,' Mr Justice Paul McDermott said on Tuesday. Stock picture

A High Court judge has criticised the Law Society of Ireland for failing to inform the courts of proposed withdrawal of legal aid work by solicitors this week, describing it as “highly discourteous”.

Mr Justice Paul McDermott said the court had not been made aware of any proposed action by solicitors and that this was “disappointing to say the least”.

“The court has received no formal notice of any such action being taken from any group of solicitors,” Mr Justice McDermott said on Tuesday.

 “Certainly there has been no notification from the Law Society of Ireland that services are to be withdrawn by their members.” 

 The “unclear manner” of the proposed withdrawal of services was “highly discourteous” to the court, to all of those involved in trials including families in murder cases, to jurors, and others, the judge said.

“If such action is being taken I would expect at the very least the court would have some formal notification from a representative body of some kind,” said Mr Justice McDermott. 

“I would have thought that would come from the Law Society of Ireland.” 

 The judge was making the comments ahead of the swearing in of a Central Criminal Court jury on Tuesday, with barristers expressing concern the trial may not be in a position to sit later this week.

It has been reported that solicitors will not be carrying out criminal legal aid work in courts this Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday in a dispute over a proposed legal aid reforms involving solicitor fees.

Mr Justice McDermott said that if solicitors are going to withdraw services “they should come to court and tell the court they are doing so” and they “might have the courtesy to do so well in advance of the cases being heard”.

He noted it was a situation in which professionals were disengaging from cases that were “difficult cases for all sides” and that they should come in and convey that to the court and not leave it to barristers to “carry the can”.