Judges are obviously paid and the
legal aid fee will probably come to # 1,000 for each case.
The government says the reforms will narrow the gap between legal
aid fees paid to barristers and solicitors for doing similar advocacy work.
Today LTF makes grants from revenue from IOLTA as well as the annual Legal
Aid Fee assessed on active Illinois lawyers at the direction of the Supreme Court.
It will also meet with solicitor groups to decide how both camps can support each other, and is consulting the Northern Ireland Criminal Bar Association who had a nine - month dispute over legal
aid fees in 2015/16, which was resolved by mediation.
The Lord Chancellor decided, following the two - stage Transforming Legal Aid consultation in 2013, to reduce the number of Duty Provider Work contracts from about 1,600 to 525 and also to impose a reduction in criminal legal
aid fees of 17.5 %.
The legal
aid fee scale is, of course, significantly below what most private clients are charged, and legal aid itself is struggling because of underfunding by the cash - strapped Alberta government.
«It is proposed that family Legal
Aid fee levels should be linked to the level of judge allocated to the case, rather than the tier of the court, as there will only be 2 tiers of court but 4 levels of judges — lay bench, district judge, circuit judge and High Court judge,» explained Emma.
Despite current concerns with legal
aid fee cuts and competitive tendering, criminal lawyers accounted for only 7 % of calls.
The meeting took place against the backdrop of the uproar concerning further cuts to the legal
aid fees paid to practitioners following the recent additions to the Advocates» Graduated Fee Scheme («AGFS»), a matter which naturally made its way into the conversation through constructive questions and statements.
Established as a non-profit foundation in 1983, LTF makes grants from revenue generated by the Interest on Lawyers» Trust Accounts (IOLTA) program as well as a legal
aid fee assessed on Illinois lawyers as part of the annual attorney registration process.
A judicial review has been launched against Ministry of Justice (MoJ) cuts to
legal aid fees for Crown Court cases with heavy workloads, such as terror, fraud and serious historic sex cases.
Over 100 barristers and solicitors met to discuss cuts to legal
aid fees.
The vote means barristers will come out to support solicitors facing 8.75 % cuts to their legal
aid fees, which they say would make legal aid work untenable.
In a classic case of divide and rule, the government recently chose not to slash fees for Crown Court advocacy, while at the same time imposing a second tranche of 8.75 % cuts on solicitors» criminal legal
aid fees.
It is unclear if Gove meant to include solicitors in the phrase «representatives of the profession overall», but the fact they were not explicitly mentioned suggests he has no plans to backtrack on cuts to legal
aid fees.
The court found that the reduction to criminal legal
aid fees was not sufficiently connected to the failure to disclose the reports, so this aspect of the Lord Chancellor's decision was not overturned.
It was subsequently reported — again by the Gazette — that protest action by criminal defence lawyers could be on the cards, «as anger escalates over the government's latest attempt to slash legal
aid fees».
The ProcureCo project has in truth a much more far - reaching aim than the worry about an uneven split of the legal
aid fee could justify.
The casual observer may question if the protest action taken over the last three weeks by criminal solicitors over legal
aid fees, and expanded today to include barristers, isn't all just about money.
Junior criminal counsel, in particular, have been hard hit by cuts to legal
aid fees.
The consultation therefore threatens the reintroduction of the suspended second 8.75 % cut across the board to criminal legal
aid fees, subject to the outcome of this consultation.
For example, Nicholas Green told us that barristers were on average 20 % cheaper than solicitors because we did not have to carry their overheads and that solicitors had probably suffered more from the changes to legal
aid fees than had barristers.
The solicitors were protesting against low legal
aid fees, as well as the Carter reforms, which will introduce price competitive tendering and drive many firms out of business or force them to merge.
Despite that deficit, Ontario's criminal lawyers are boycotting serious cases because the legal
aid fees are not high enough.