APPENDIX 8
Memorandum submitted by the Northern Ireland
General Consumer Council
THE FUTURE
OF LEGAL
AID
The Council made a major submission on the future
of Legal Aid in the Autumn of 1999 in response to the consultation
paper "Public Benefit and the Public Purse". A copy
is attached.[13]
The Lord Chancellor's decisions were published last autumn under
the heading "The Away Ahead Legal Aid Reform in Northern
Ireland".
In general, the Council welcomes the establishment
of the Legal Services Commission and the decision to have three
separate budgets. Our submission to the Civil Justice Review Group
set out further details on our views on the governance of such
a Commission.
The Lord Chancellor has decided on a funding
code. The Council strongly recommends that it should be as simple
and practical as possible.
In our original submission, the Council set
out several important reservations about the possibility of introducing
conditional fees. We have now looked at the new proposal for a
Contingency Legal Aid Fund. Our preliminary view is that it offers
advantages to consumers. However, for such a scheme to be successful
it must work effectively, therefore other arrangements and decisions
must have regard to this. In particular we would be very cautious
about the idea of setting up an independent body to run such a
fund since it would most likely add to the cost.
We believe that, in order to deter frivolous
claims, it is reasonable for litigants to pay a registration fee
operated in such a way that the level is appropriate to all. The
registration fee should be deducted from the payment to be made
following a successful case.
The criteria to be used to determine whether
a case gets funding should take into account wider considerations
such as those proposed for legal aid in the decisions paper. The
Council also considers that, in order to ensure the success of
any CLAF and thus increase access to justice, a substantial percentage
of damages—say between 10 per cent and 15 per cent—should
be paid into the Fund following a successful outcome.
13 February 2001
13 See the list of unprinted papers, p. xvi. Back
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