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Lord Bach, the minister for legal aid, gave the keynote speech at LAPGs annual conference. He reiterated that legal aid was fundamental to the justice system, enabling access to justice for the vulnerable and ensuring fair trials for defendants. In a wide-ranging speech, Lord Bach said one of the proposals in the consultation on civil contracts was to encourage lawyers to provide a range of linked services perhaps by forming consortia and making joint bids. Should best value tendering be taken forward, the minister said it would be piloted and fully assessed before any decision was taken about any future phased implementation. On Crown Court means testing Lord Bach said the government remained firmly committed to the principle that those who can afford to pay for, or contribute towards their legal aid costs, do so. The Ministry of Justice and the Legal Services Commission have been working closely with the Bar Council and the Law Society to ensure that very high cost cases can progress, Lord Bach said. I should make clear that there is no question of funding any increase in advocacy payments from any decrease in solicitors payments - the new scheme - and any changes to the current scheme - must be met from within the current financial envelope. Children and adults at risk of abuse will continue to take the highest priority for legal services. Our new care proceedings fee scheme includes a single level for legal representation, which is sufficiently adaptable to take into account developments regarding the Public Law Outline. Particularly complex or expensive cases will be paid for outside the standard fee scheme, and will continue to be remunerated at hourly rates, Lord Bach said. As the sixtieth anniversary of the legislative introduction of legal aid approaches, the minister said the vision for the future must build on those 60 years to maintain our reputation for being world class leaders in this field. We have much to be proud of. Legal aid is valued as a part of the wider social provision introduced in the post-war years. Legal aid provision has continuously widened, developed and improved since then. My aim is that we continue on that path of improvement and - given the widespread engagement from yourselves in this process - I am confident that we will be able to do so.
Sessions during the conference included a family fees workshop run by David Emmerson and Alan Bean, who discussed the reviews being undertaken by the LSC had been undertaking and how the profession had been working with the LSC through the family representative body. Some matters had been agreed, the audience was told:
* taper fees - the reduction after six hearings - will not be brought in * there will be a different advocacy fee depending on in which court the hearing takes place * the minimum advocacy fee is for 60 minutes, then 2.5 hours, then a day * there will be some mark-ups allowed on advocacy fees for complex issues such as large bundles, alleged perpetrator, etc, * travel will be allowed for both solicitors and barristers for a distance of more than 25 miles each way * fact finding hearings are payable as final hearing fees * counsel can claim opinion and conference fees but not solicitor advocates.
New big ideas , old big ideas and recycled big ideas were discussed, including:
* high cost cases and separation of civil legal aid budget from criminal; * alternative funding sources for legal aid including polluter pays, financial services for fraud, social welfare law foundation; * harmonising of legal aid rates across all contracts with three or four rates depending on experience of provider; * legal aid grant be given to the client and not the provider; * creation of a gateway to legal aid services from where all cases are referred, similar to the system in the Netherlands; * abolish the LSC; * campaign in the forthcoming election.
The workshop agreed: * that other sources of legal aid funding were required but pro bono was not that source; * all should seek cost orders from cases even though judges were sometimes reluctant to award them; * a gateway idea might better ensure that specialist legal services were provided appropriately; * the LSC needed to ensure a separation of powers. Young Legal Aid Lawyers hosted two workshops at the conference, attended by more than 60 students, junior lawyers and other interested conference delegates. The first was on human rights, and speakers included Phil Shiner of Public Interest Lawyers, who discussed his case R (on the application of Al-Sweady and Others) v Secretary of State for Defence. Paul Troop of Tooks Chambers talked about control orders and secret evidence; Kat Craig of Christian Khan Solicitors discussed a case concerning police powers to control demonstrators; and Martin Howe of Howe & Co spoke about the high-profile Gurkhas case. The second YLAL workshop was on career options in legal aid. Speakers included Kay Foxall of Southwark Law Centre; Sara Chandler of the College of Law who talked about pro bono work; and Gwendolen Morgan of Bindmans LLP who gave a talk on training as a solicitor in private practice. She ended by encouraging encouraged young lawyers to get involved with YLAL, LAPG and other campaign organisations concerned with practice and funding issues. Other workshops were on CLACs and CLANs, immigration, alternative business structures, procurement law, crime BVT and a session on delivery transformation from the LSCs team explaining proposals for electronic working.
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