‘Anger and frustration’ on flat-fee proposals
A meeting of criminal-law solicitors from across the county has heard calls for the profession to unite against the Department of Justice’s proposals to introduce a flat fee for criminal legal-aid cases in the District Court.
The information meeting, attended by more than 150 solicitors, was organised by the Law Society in Blackhall Place today (9 June).
The department was invited to send representatives, but declined – a decision that Law Society President Rosemarie Loftus described as a “discourtesy”.
Other speakers described the absence of officials from the department as “an insult” and “an absolute slap in the face”.
‘Lack of engagement’
Chair of the Law Society Criminal Law Committee Shane McCarthy expressed frustration at the department’s lack of engagement with a Law Society submission on the proposals, which are due to come into effect on 1 July, telling the meeting that the organisation had been presented with a fait accompli.
President Rosemarie Loftus called the flat-fee proposal “unworkable”.
“There will be a decline in access to justice; there will be an exodus of solicitors,” she said, citing a recent Gazette survey of criminal-law solicitors.
Solicitors at the meeting were given a document from the Department of Justice on the flat-fee proposals, which the Law Society received only the previous day.
Unanswered questions
Shane McCarthy told solicitors that the document left many issues unresolved and many questions unanswered.
Speakers at the meeting expressed particular concern about cases where a legal-aid transfer is made to another solicitor, in which case only the solicitor representing the defendant when the final order is made will be entitled to the fee.
While some speakers called on the Law Society to continue its engagement with the department, there were also calls for stronger action – with one speaker urging “more stick as well as carrot”. Some solicitors told the meeting that they were prepared to withdraw their services.
Strength of feeling
McCarthy pledged to communicate the strength of feeling among solicitors to the department, referring to the “palpable” sense of anger and frustration at the meeting.
“What we are hearing from practitioners – who came to Dublin from all over Ireland today – is that these proposals would lead to practitioners no longer taking on District Court legal-aid work, with inevitable consequences for defendants, the courts, and the wider justice system,” he stated after the meeting.
“Practitioners are raising legitimate concerns based on the realities of how this work is done every day, and the Department of Justice needs to address the serious concerns of solicitors before pressing ahead with changes that will have lasting and harmful effects,” he concluded.