A system in tatters

The Family Law Private Practitioner Scheme is an example of access to justice at its best. However, if it is to continue, it must be properly resourced, argues Siún Hurley – before the remaining practitioners are lost.

The Family Law Private Practitioner Scheme is one of the quiet, but indispensable, pillars of access to justice in Ireland.

Operating under the Civil Legal Aid Act 1995 and regulated by the Civil Legal Aid Regulations 1996-2021, the scheme allows privately practising solicitors to provide legally aided family-law services on behalf of the Legal Aid Board.

It ensures that vulnerable individuals and families can access high-quality legal representation within their own communities, delivered by experienced practitioners.

However, the sustainability of the scheme is now under acute pressure. 

Flat-rate fees, no refund or recovery for outlays for cases taken under the scheme, together with rising compliance obligations and escalating business costs threaten its continued viability and, by extension, meaningful access to justice in local districts.

Scheme structure

The family law scheme forms part of a broader network of private practitioner (PP) schemes administered by the Legal Aid Board, such as the Public Law Child Care Scheme and the International Protection Scheme.

As of the most recent figures, there are 379 practitioners nationwide on the family law panel.

While coverage appears strong in some urban centres, the reality on the ground tells a different story.

Many practitioners indicate their availability across multiple counties, often outside their own base. This masks the emergence of legal-aid deserts – areas where few or no locally based solicitors remain on the panel.

Counties such as Laois, Kilkenny, Mayo, Offaly and Sligo now have either no, or minimal, locally based PP scheme solicitors.

For legally aided clients, particularly those experiencing domestic violence or complex family breakdown, the absence of a nearby practitioner can present insurmountable practical and emotional barriers.

Eligibility

Eligibility for a legal-aid certificate is determined by two tests:

• The merits test considers whether a reasonable person would pursue the case using their own funds, and
• The means test currently requires net income below €18,000 and capital assets below €100,000 (excluding the family home).

Applicants are required to pay a contribution to the Legal Aid Board, ranging from €30 to €150. Exceptions apply in cases involving domestic violence and severe financial hardship.

Notably, a review committee has recommended increasing the income threshold to €23,500 and providing for regular reviews every three years.

These recommendations, while welcome, have yet to be implemented and should only be implemented when the resources are there to meet the inevitable increase in demand for legal aid.

Operation in practice

The practical operation of the scheme has changed significantly in recent years.

Whereas, historically, files were transferred from the law centre to private practitioners with proceedings already issued and served, solicitors must now take full instructions and complete all procedural steps themselves.

This includes drafting increasingly lengthy District Court application forms, issuing proceedings, arranging for service and filing documentation, as many court appearances as it takes, and drafting interim and final court orders.

Crucially, many of these steps involve outlays, for example, swearing fees and registered post, for which there is no reimbursement under the PP scheme.

Prior approval for experts’ fees is required from the Legal Aid Board, adding further administrative layers and delays to already urgent and complex cases.

Financial reality

Fees under the scheme are fixed and are inclusive of counsel’s fees (where applicable), excluding VAT. For District Court family-law matters, the standard fee for most applications is €339, rising to €423 or €508 where multiple issues are involved.

In Circuit Court judicial-separation and divorce proceedings, the maximum fee payable at the conclusion of a case is €3,386. Where counsel is instructed in such cases, the flat fee is shared with the solicitor. Interim fees are limited, and discontinued proceedings attract significantly reduced payments.

These figures stand in stark contrast to the actual costs of delivering legal services.

Solicitors must meet office overheads and costs, including mortgage or rent for business premises, staff salaries, Revenue, insurance, IT systems and user-licence fees, professional indemnity insurance, costs of regulation, practising-certificate fees, including fees to the LSRA, and CPD requirements for practitioners and staff.

None of these costs are static – all have increased substantially in recent years.

Stark imbalance

The financial imbalance is illustrated starkly by real case examples. In a District Court custody dispute that involved complex welfare issues, repeated non-compliance with court orders, and 15 court appearances (including travel between rural District Courts), the total fee payable under the scheme was €508.

This was paid some 15 months after initial instructions were taken from the client. Independent costs-assessment demonstrated that this bore little relation to the work required or responsibility assumed.

Similarly, in a Circuit Court divorce case involving property, third-party interests, and financial complexity, the total fee of €3,386 (to be shared with counsel) – recoverable at the end of the case 15 months later – contrasted sharply with independent assessment for the solicitor’s professional fees when these were calculated on a quantum meruit basis.

Expenses for travel and parking are not recoverable under the scheme, which can often involve significant distances for rural practitioners.

These examples are not exceptional – they are increasingly typical.

Access to justice

Family-law disputes are emotionally charged, fact specific, and resource intensive. They demand time, skill, judgement, and resilience from practitioners.

Yet the PP scheme remunerates these cases as if they were routine, predictable, and administratively simple.

The inevitable consequence is practitioner withdrawal.

As more solicitors conclude that participation is no longer economically viable, coverage gaps widen, delays increase, and vulnerable clients are left without meaningful choice or local representation.

The uncomfortable truth is that private practitioners on the scheme and their firms are subsidising the Legal Aid Board and, ultimately, the State. This is neither sustainable nor fair.

Practitioners carry significant professional and financial risks while delivering a public service that underpins the rule of law. Without urgent reform, the scheme risks collapse by attrition rather than design.

Access to justice is not an abstract principle; it is delivered by individual practitioners in local communities, day after day, in difficult circumstances.

The Civil Legal Aid Family Law PP Scheme now runs on the goodwill and collegiality that is forged between us private practitioners and our colleagues in the law centres and at the bar.

Fair, realistic professional fees are essential to maintain that access to justice, to attract and retain skilled family-law practitioners to the scheme, and to sustain local legal practices.

If the scheme is to continue, it must be recognised, valued, and properly resourced – before the remaining practitioners are lost.

Siún Hurley is a solicitor with O’Donovan, Murphy & Partners LLP, Bantry, and is chair of the Law Society’s Family and Child Law Committee.