Leaving aside the important issue of
the contracts it is the appalling collapse in legal rates following that are
worrying more and more of us. These are not just the scheduled 17.5% 'across
the board' cut but in many cases far more severe cuts with, for example in my
own county of Kent, cuts in police station work of up to 34% in fees. Very few
businesses can survive such a disastrous reduction in income without severe
consequences for both the business and the public even with an increase in
volume for those who have 'won' duty contracts. This to be followed by further
cuts to Crown court fees in January. One could be forgiven for thinking that
the Government does not want people to be represented by viable quality firms.
Despite insincere blather about Magna
Carta the Government only thinks in the short term and has no sense of history
at all. In the past we had poor cover in the police stations which led to abuse
of suspects and reform in 1984 with the introduction of PACE. It took a number
of high profile miscarriages of justice cases and the Phillips Commission to
achieve that reform as by the 1980’s the horrific injustices simply could no
longer be ignored. More embarrassing legal disasters are inevitable unless
there is a major rethink from the Treasury and MOJ. The measure of justice and
the quality of life in the UK is not only something that should be judged in
purely economic terms. A healthy judicial system is integral to what makes this
nation stable, why we are respected as a nation and why people invest and live
here.
I am very concerned that the low rates
under the new contract will inevitably lead to a dumbing down in quality
despite the efforts of those of us with a social conscience that will
desperately resist that process. Then we will have shocking cases that will
force the issue into public awareness by which time all the present generation
of myopic politicians and their supine civil servants will have moved on.
What is sad is that there is the real
danger of good quality lawyers shying away from low paid legal aid work because
a social conscience does not pay the mortgage.
This is an issue that applies to both
branches of the profession and it is our collective failure that we have not
united and risen up together in protest against these cuts instead of allowing
the Government to divide us. We have become transfixed by contracting processes
and by hardly disguised turf wars about advocacy standards when it all really
distils into the fundamental issue of underfunding of Legal Aid. That is the
real issue not who does what to which standard important though standards are
to both sides of the profession. Massive cuts will lead to a collapse in
quality to all branches of the profession, the judiciary and to other agencies.
I no longer have a formal leadership
role (although remain on the CLSA committee) but it is my true hope that both
sides of the profession, all the professional organisations, academic lawyers,
sympathetic journalists, economists, statisticians and all interested parties
will come together as never before and form a united front. We need an umbrella
organisation with a ruthless campaigning agenda and with employed PR specialists
to get the message expertly across with all of us all of us singing from the
same hymn sheet. All the professional organisations do their very best with
limited resources and personnel. (I include the CLSA/LCCSA/CBA/LAPG/TLS and
Justice Alliance and all their excellent work). But what is needed is a focused
business like and frankly steely if not ruthless effort with the best people
from these and beyond.
Our main aims should include:-
- The setting up of a fast
track time limited independent review (if the Government will not set one
up then we will do so) with distinguished appointees taking evidence from
all sections of the community including the profession but also interested
organisations and individuals all to give evidence as to the effect of the
cuts and to make recommendations for the effective funding of access to do
justice post Leveson reforms. We will need to persuade some eye catching
people to take part and attract media attention as well as those with a
legal or academic background but at its core will be highly respected
individuals of unimpeachable credentials. This may sit by invitation in
Parliament or elsewhere.
- We need a focus for all
these disparate but related issues. There is at present little or no, to
use the cliché, 'joined up Government' at present. You cannot implement
reforms to the Criminal Justice systems that make it work more efficiently
whilst eviscerating those that work within it. How do firms invest in
the new technology for a common IT platform that will bring long term
savings if in the short term they are starved of capital due to inadequate
funding?
- Reassertion of legal aid as
a right not a benefit. Demonstrating the absolute fact that UK legal
aid is extremely good value for money when properly funded. (Average in
international terms as has been argued by me and others with reference to
the NAO report).
- Reporting on miscarriage of
justice cases in a highly effective and media savvy manner. We may need to
select outstanding figureheads to present our case which we will carefully
prepare for them as ammunition. Feeding this into the review.
- Working with our experts
helped by our professional organisations to come up with imaginative ways
to fund legal aid, both criminal and civil. This also goes hand in hand with
identifying reforms to the way courts handle cases. IT will play a role
here. Legal fees must be transparent with an independent input and
the case made for them with comparison to other specialist sectors. Again
feeding this into the review.
- Start again on the
parliamentary lobbying by ensuring that we have a subgroup dedicated to
that task.
We need in short the most powerful
umbrella organisation we have ever had with membership beyond the
practitioner groups to fight back this insidious concept that due to the
Bankers induced financial crisis we no longer can properly fund our citizens
right to legal representation. If we could afford legal aid after the near bankruptcy
of fighting a world war then we can certainly afford it now and resist the
reactionary tide that is turning us back to a dark age when only the wealthy
could access legal representation.
I will not be defeatist. I will not
surrender to the siren calls that suggest a 3rd rate legal aid system is
inevitable. The expenditure is negligible and falling. No one owes lawyers a
living but if Parliament insists on complex laws then we as a country must
provide our citizens with the ability to access justice. The Government cannot
have it both ways.
In the same way that our citizens
should be entitled to a properly functioning Health Service and Education
provision then they must also be entitled to a properly functioning legal
system and that must include the adequate provision of legal aid not this ever
downward spiral of cuts that will inevitably lead to a crisis in the near
future when the consequences become all too evident and can no longer be hidden
from public view.
Enough retreat. Enough division. Enough
defeatism. Let us go onto the offensive against these cuts but this time with
unity and professionalism that dedicated cooperation will bring and in a way
that plays to our strengths. We are not the poor miners in the 1980’s. There is
a pressing need for quality representation that is internationally respected
and that will never change. We will bring the best minds and the most
energetic of us together in a practical working campaign group that meets often
and takes action not just a discussion group. What have we to lose? We and the
nation certainly have a lot to gain by an effective united front. This umbrella
group will be the most prestigious and effective group legal aid practitioners
have ever known. It will inspire the profession, it will awaken the public and
ultimately terrify and defeat the reactionary forces who dare to deny our
citizens Justice on a 22% share of the popular vote.
We need to play to our strengths. (We
have not yet shown them how Legal aid lawyers fight)
Robin Murray
Solicitor with Robin Murray and Co.
Writer and campaigner on legal
Aid matters.
Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year Award
Winner
Winner of Kent Law Society exceptional
achievement award
Recently retired Vice Chair of the CLSA
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