Section A- Acess To Justice (legal Funding) Flashcards
Government funding- criminal advice
Since legal aid, sentencing and punishment act 2012 (LASPO) all legal aid issues are operated by the legal aid agency under ministry of justice. There’s a director of legal aid casework and all decisions made by him and his team. However granted legal aid has fallen by half- declined 18% 2015-16. Money given declined.
There are two advice schemes supplied by government funding
Duty solicitor- LASPO 2012 states initial advice and assistance are available to an individual who is arrested and held in custody. Suspects have free legal advice, duty solicitor scheme available 24hrs a day- gov. No means test. 2022-23 590 000 given advice. Advise via telephone
Franchised solicitor - contract with legal aid agency only covers advice and some preparatory work if charged with offence. Limited to 1hr and is means tested
Government funding- criminal representation
Criminal legal aid services are under legal aid agency in the ministry of justice. In order to qualify should pass the means and merits test.
1. Interest of justice- merits test
Must qualify with atleast one of the 5 interests of justice: 1.change of loosing liberty or serious damage to reputation. 2.case involves a POL. 3.unable to understand proceedings in court. 4.involves interviewing or expert cross examination of witnesses. 5. Interest the interest of another person they be represented e.g. rape cases.
Means testing in magistrates court- based on a persons gross annual income- over 22 325 don’t qualify. Below 12 475 fully funded. 12 475- 22 325 contribution of cots awarded. 3/4 adults don’t qualify.
In crown court- more funding available- a household disposable income less than 37 500 will get legal aid and a high disposable income pays for own representation. If D is found NG costs are rewarded
Government funding for civi advice
Gov funded advice- more limited than criminal. No legal aid for contract or tort cases e.g personal injury claims. Limited funding, a few areas listed in LASPO 2012 e.g. involving children’s rights, liberty cases, immigration cases.
Civil legal advice (CLA) is government funding scheme for providing advice in civil cases. 2022-23 131 000 people rang CLA telephone service. Free help for problems such as: debt, housing, domestic abuse, family issues, discrimination.
Government funding for civil representation
Gov funded rep- in order to qualify will be means tested- receiving income support automatically qualify. Financial limits: gross income below 2657 a month, disposable income 733 per month, disposable capital below 8000- assets. If income is below in some areas but above in others they will be required to make a contribution to legal aid.
In s.10 LASPO 2012- lord chancellor added more criteria to see if can access legal aid- importance of case to individual, if other methods can be used to fund the case, if public interest, can it be solved through other methods e.g ADR
What are criticisms of civil legal funding
- not enough legal service providers have contracts to do legal aid work
-only people on a very low income are eligible for legal aid
-the fund is low and lacks resources - lack of available legal aid for personal injury is unfair especially if suffered severe injuries which would make it hard to defend themselves
-disposable capital also includes any money in the value of a house homeowners- may have equity in their house and not qualify for legal aid regardless of the fact the only way to release that capital would be to sell their home.
Criticisms of criminal legal funding
-‘interests of justice’ test is applied very strictly
-means tested is very strict test that restricts funding 3/4 adults do not qualify for legal aid in magistrates court.
-government has cut the fees paid to lawyers for criminal cases and many solicitors firms have stopped doing legal aid work.
- duty solicitors are often criticised for providing inadequate service
what does private civil funding include
if someone does not receive legal aid they are able to obtain representation privately by finding their own solicitor and paying all costs. use their own funds or a loan. another way is through insurance known as ‘before the event’ insurance which is taken out before there is a claim.
what are conditional fee agreements
main problem of court is the cost. in order to overcome there are conditional fee agreements that can be used in all civil cases except family and can’t be used for criminal. introduced by courts and legal services act. known as ‘no win no fee’ agreements, governed by LASPO, agreement between solicitor and client that if the solicitor wins the client pays the legal costs along with success fee. main basis of CFA is that if the case is unsuccessful the client doesn’t pay anything. some solicitors include a cap on the success fee which means it cannot be more than 25% of the damages won or exceed 100% of normal fee. some may still charge lower fee. ‘after the event’ insurance can be taken out to protect against paying costs of other side- insurance company pays
what are advantages of conditional fee agreements
-allows people to take cases to court who would not have the funds to do so
-takes some of the financial risk out of taking a case to court
-can be used for cases where civil legal funding is not available e.g. defamation cases
what are disadvantages of conditional fee agreements
- lawyers are not obligated to take on a case that has little chance of winning
-lawyers may be reluctant to take on cases where the amount of money being claimed is low
-sinse LASPO 2012 the success fee and insurance costs cannot be claimed from the loser in the case. the winning party will have to pay these from the compensation they have been awarded.
what is citizens advice bureaux
2500 locations in UK, independent charitable organisation offering legal advice on a range of issues, general advice free to anyone on a variety of issues e.g. social welfare, debt and legal matters. provide info on which local solicitor do legal aid work or give cheap or free first interviews. many bureaux have a conected solicitor and in a year 2.66m were given advice
what are law centres
existed since 1970, offer a free, non means tested legal service to people in their area. aim is to provide a service which is easily accessible and not intimidating which they can turn to for guidance, provide in areas where few solicitors, 2023 41 centres had to close due to lack of funding from government
what are trade unions
offer free legal advice to their members for work related problems. also for other legal issues such as personal injury. e.g. unite are the biggest in country and have freelegal rep for any personal injury cases .
