The withdrawal of services by criminal defence solicitors is set to continue into the new legal year, which begins on October 5, with scheduled sentencing hearings and new trials unlikely to be able to proceed. Our criminal defence solicitors act for clients in the District Court, Circuit Court and Central Criminal Court, much of it under the criminal legal aid scheme.
Senior judges put on notice
Solicitors involved in the action have written to the Chief Justice and the presidents of the High Court, Circuit Court and District Court, putting them on notice of the continued withdrawal of services. Thousands of cases have already been adjourned since the protest began in July.
What Tony Collier told the President of the District Court
Tony Collier of Ferrys Solicitors, one of the main opponents of the changes, told the president of the District Court that he and colleagues would not be able to provide criminal defence services, save for custody and protocol cases, when the new legal year begins.
Mr Collier acknowledged that the withdrawal would cause significant inconvenience for parties in cases, particularly victims of crime, and said solicitors had made enormous efforts to resolve the dispute. The full text of his letter is set out in our report on the letters to the senior judiciary.
The flat-fee model at the centre of the dispute
Under the reforms introduced by the Minister for Justice, Jim O'Callaghan, solicitors receive €520 per District Court case, regardless of how many hearings are involved. Previously they were paid per appearance.
Practitioners opposing the model have said they are expected to work for nothing where cases take longer than average. The Minister has said the previous system incentivised adjournments and was open to abuse.
How many solicitors are working under the new model
New figures indicate that the number of solicitors operating under the flat-fee model is growing slowly. Since July 1, 145 solicitors have operated under the new model, 30 of whom began doing so since September 1 and nine of whom did so for the first time in the past week.
Legal aid certificates were issued in 16 counties last week, but remained well below usual levels. A number of solicitors who resigned from the panel have also been reinstated to it.
The dispute goes before the Oireachtas Justice Committee
The dispute is due to be discussed at the Oireachtas Justice Committee, where representatives of the Law Society, the Bar Council and individual solicitors have been invited to attend.
The Minister declined to attend due to Oireachtas business, but has said he would be available after the High Court rules on a challenge to the pay reforms. Judgment in those proceedings is expected on October 13. The Minister last week ruled out a Law Society proposal for mediation while that judgment is awaited.
What the Law Society and the Bar Council are expected to say
Law Society president Rosemarie Loftus is expected to tell the committee that the scheme involves a one-size-fits-all approach that has no regard for the complexity of cases and prioritises administrative efficiencies over fairness. Bar Council chairman Seamus Clarke is expected to urge the Minister to engage with solicitors.
The submission from Ferrys Solicitors
In a submission to the committee, Mr Collier and fellow solicitor Michael Finucane said the new fee model would render publicly funded criminal defence work unsustainable as a business.
The solicitors said that no one denies the criminal legal aid system needs reform, but that negotiation, rather than imposition, is the only reasonable way forward.
Read the full original report here: Irish Independent