Bar Council to chase up unpaid legal aid fees
Following a unanimous vote at its agm, the Bar of Ireland is to bring fee recovery in-house for the forthcoming legal year.
The new system will also provide an information point about levels of unpaid fees.
Unpaid fees
The level of unpaid fees to junior counsel under the District Court criminal legal aid scheme has been a cause of distress, as figures reportedly amount to over €600,000 in a three-month period.
Split fees
The current payment scheme dates to a time when barristers only rarely had cause to appear before the District Court. Solicitors claimed the legal aid fees and then split them with the acting barrister.
Unpaid legal aid fees will now be notified to the Bar Council with many criminal defence solicitors also backing the new arrangements