THE CHIEF executive of philanthropic charity the Carnegie UK Trust has issued a highly critical appraisal of Scottish legal aid lawyers, accusing them of deriding the system they are part of and overplaying the case for an increase in fee levels.
Having just completed a year-long review of legal aid on behalf of the Scottish Government, Martyn Evans said he could “not find the evidence to justify” an increase to fee rates, despite acknowledging that “many solicitors and advocates are clearly frustrated with the level of fees for providing legal aid”.
“I tried hard to find persuasive evidence in the responses to the review that there should be a general increase in all legal aid fees. I could not,” Mr Evans said.
Margaret Taylor: Is legal assistance just a means of providing legal aid on the cheap?
Legal aid lawyers have long argued that they are not fairly remunerated for the work they do and earlier this year private practice solicitors up and down the country voted to boycott a police station duty scheme run by the Scottish Legal Aid Board in protest.
However, Mr Evans said that on a per-head basis legal aid spend in Scotland is among the highest in Europe, adding that the perception that Scottish legal aid lawyers are poorly remunerated has likely been influenced by negative coverage of £1 billion of cuts in England and Wales.
“This negativity has inevitably seeped over the Border since the proximity of the two jurisdictions and shared media means that the casual reader may assume the same is true in Scotland,” he said.
“That is quite evidently not the case. The Scottish system compares well with other jurisdictions in terms of scope, eligibility and cost.”
He added that the legal aid service is at times “derided by voices within the legal profession”, adding that this “feeds into media and public perceptions that all is not well with legal aid in Scotland”.
Rather than recommending an increase in fees, Mr Evans said that the legal aid system should instead be fundamentally overhauled to drive efficiencies. This will include a review of how fee levels are set that will require solicitors and advocates to provide access to their accounts and workload data.
Ian Moir, convenor of the Law Society of Scotland’s criminal legal aid committee, said he was “generally pleased” with Mr Evans’s findings.
“I am disappointed that the review stopped short of recommending immediate increases on fee levels but am encouraged that an urgent independent review of fees is recommended and I believe the case for significant increases to reverse years of real-terms cuts can readily be made,” he added.
Margaret Taylor: Is legal assistance just a means of providing legal aid on the cheap?
It is now up to the Scottish Government to decide whether to implement Mr Evans’s recommendations.
Legal affairs minister Annabelle Ewing said the report would be considered “in consultation with justice organisations, the legal profession and partners who have been tasked with change”.
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