Follow the money

Like in good comedy, timing is everything in politics. The minister responsible for legal aid, Jonathan Djanogly, released the figures for the highest paid legal aid solicitor firms and barristers yesterday. Call us cynical, but this is a sure sign that the delayed bill containing the legal aid cuts is to follow next week.

Publicising the top earners figures as a means of justifying the planned legal aid cuts would be hypocritical in the extreme - not that this is likely to stop some, particularly as the political pressure over the cuts mounts. What should be remembered is that nearly £300m of the total cuts of £350m likely to be announced next week have little bearing on the high-earning people on this list. These cuts instead fall disproportionately on the lower end of civil legal aid work, undertaken by solicitors and not for profit organisations earning far less than the elite few reflected in these figures.

The Bar usually comes in for criticism when these sorts of figures are released as individuals earning high amounts of public money are an easy target for sections of the press. What partners in solicitors firms earn from legal aid is less transparent. Fortunately, there are no barristers earning over one million pounds topping the list to hang a story on. LAG believes this is in large part due to the changes to Very High Cost Cases (VHCC) fees made by the last government. Barristers and solicitor advocates have also taken a 12.5 per cent reduction in Crown Court fees over the last two years.

There remains, though, a striking differential between the amounts being earned by the top criminal barristers as opposed to civil barristers. The lowest earning criminal barrister in the list would come near the top of the civil earnings list. Across all levels of fee income, civil law legal aid barristers generally earn much less than their criminal counterparts. This is a reflection of the number of criminal VHCC and, it has to be said, the more generous fee structure for criminal cases. Only two women feature in the list of top criminal barristers, as opposed to six in the civil list - a sure sign perhaps that most of the money is in criminal work?

The Law Society has called for a cap of a quarter of a million pounds to be imposed on individual earnings from the legal aid fund. LAG doubts that this is something which could be easily implemented. To be even-handed it would be difficult to apply to partners in solicitors firms with a mix of private and legal aid income. Also, as Jonathan Djanogly correctly points out in the letter in which he released the figures, the earnings for barristers are not necessarily calculated over a calendar year, and can include fees for junior counsel, as well as other overheads.

LAG accepts that excellence in advocacy carries a cost which has to be met to ensure equality before the law. However, we do not believe the differential between civil and criminal fees can be justified. If the policy choice boils down to higher fees at the top end of criminal work, against access to justice for the public coping with everyday civil legal problems, criminal barristers and solicitor advocates should be prepared to take a hit in income.

Read the letter and full list of figures here: http://www.lag.org.uk/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=88856

Picture: Ministry of Justice, legal aid minister Jonathan Djanogly

Legal aid on the march

Many legal aid lawyers and advice workers joined the TUC march on Saturday to protest at the government plans to cut legal aid and other cuts in publicly funded legal advice services. They were joined by a large contingent of Gurkhas and their families.

The Gurkha Justice Campaign successfully challenged the immigration rules, winning a case in the High Court. It was represented by solicitors Howe and Co, which brought a number of cases on behalf of Gurkhas who had served with the British army using legal aid funds. After a high profile campaign led by actress Joanna Lumley, the government conceded in May 2009 that any Gurkha who had served in the armed forces for four years or more should be allowed to remain in the UK.

The Justice for All and the Law Society's Sound Off for Justice campaigns joined forces on the day and led a march of supporters from the Royal Courts of Justice to join the main march as it made its way through central London to Hyde Park. Young Legal Aid Lawyers with its banner also attended the march. Tooks Chambers and Thompsons solicitors both had their own banners on the march. Sound Off for Justice brought a choir, which was accompanied by two saxophonists. They led marchers in singing protest songs.

Carol Storer, director of the Legal Aid Practitioners Group, was at the demonstration: 'It was a very impressive turn out, with many firms of solicitors represented and a good many Law Centres and other not for profit agencies also attending. People are really concerned about the future of legal aid. Where will our clients go for help if these cuts go ahead?'

Image: LAG. See further pictures here: http://bit.ly/gsSPOY

Lawyers on the march

Supporters of the campaign group Justice for All will be joining the TUC march taking place this Saturday to protest over the proposed cuts to legal aid. LAG is one of the original members of the steering group for the campaign and is urging anyone concerned about legal aid and access to justice to join the march behind the Justice for All banner.

Lawyers, advice workers and others working in legal aid services will be marching to highlight the government plans to cut civil legal aid. Housing, family and debt cases are among those targeted for the cuts. Legal aid for some areas of work, such as employment and education law, is set to be cut completely if the government goes ahead with its plans.

'It is very important that the potentially devastating cuts to legal aid are not lost in the bigger picture of the government cuts. These proposals will dramatically undermine access to justice for the most vulnerable members of society at just the time they need help to assert their rights. Everyone who cares about legal aid should join this protest and make their voice heard,' said Edward Kirton-Darling, a solicitor and a LAG board member. Edward Kirton-Darling will be attending the march with colleagues from the firm Hodge Jones & Allen LLP.

Young Legal Aid Lawyers (YLAL) will also be joining the march: 'It is important that we take every opportunity to tell the government that the brutal cuts proposed for legal aid are counterproductive and dangerous. YLAL members are committed to social justice but by slicing the legal aid budget in half, justice will become the preserve of the rich leading to increased financial and social costs. We hope the march will highlight just how many people care and will be affected by the cuts if the government chooses not to consider alternative ways to deal with the deficit.'

Justice for All marchers will be assembling from 10.15 am outside the Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand in London. They will move off around 10.45 am to join the main march which is due to leave from Victoria Embankment between the Waterloo and Blackfriars bridges at 11 am. The march will then make its way through central London ending with a rally in Hyde Park. This is due to start at 1.30 pm.

LAG learnt last week that the response to the consultation on the proposed cuts published in November last year will not now be released by the Ministry of Justice as had been expected before Easter. Publication is not now anticipated until after the local elections and the referendum on voting reform taking place on 5 May. The first reading of the bill, which will include the reforms to the legal aid system, is also expected in May.

Image: Lady Justice delivers a Valentine's Day card from Justice for All to Secretary of State for Justice Kenneth Clarke last month.

Family fees announced

The Legal Services Commission (LSC) has today announced the fees for family cases. These had been subject to intense negotiations with representatives from legal aid providers. If publication of the fees had been delayed the whole bid round process for civil legal aid might have been put in jeopardy. But the fees could still be subject to a legal challenge.

Family cases take up over half of all expenditure on civil legal aid. It would have been difficult for firms to bid for contracts in the other areas of civil law without knowing the fees for family work. Hourly rates for advocacy will be abolished under the scheme and a system of standard fees will be introduced.

Barristers stand to lose out on the fees as while the government claims that the overall budget for family cases will stay the same the amounts paid to barristers will go down. The intention, the government says, is to pay the same to solicitors and barristers for the work. LAG understands that there is much disagreement over the data on which the new fees are based and that the Bar had wanted further time for analysis of this.

Fees for private law family work (mainly divorce and custody matters) have been subject to bitter wrangling behind the scenes and some practitioners are questioning the viability of the proposed fees. The government will wait with bated breath to see if the Bar will move to bring a judicial review to challenge the scheme and risk derailing the civil contract bid rounds.