Transcript Legal Funding

Legal Funding:
Summary
History
• 1949 – First state funded legal aid scheme
• 1980s – System then developed into six
different schemes
Legal Aid Board – administered the schemes (replaced)
Cost of the system was escalating
You will need to know what the 6 schemes before the AJA
were and what the problems were.
• 1999 – Access to Justice Act 1999, introduced
major changes to the system.
Access to Justice Act 1999
Legal services Commission (LSC)
Community Legal Service Criminal Defence Service
Civil
Criminal
The LSC will make contracts with the providers of legal services so that they
can do work for individuals and get paid by the Government.
The Community Legal Service (Civil)
Community
Legal advice
Services
Certain cases
removed
(injury,
defamation
etc)
Funding:
Demand
led 
fixed
Funding
code 
Means &
Merits
Test
Legal help,
Representati
on, Court,
Family help
& Mediation
Contract
required from
the LSC
The Criminal Defence Service
Criminal
Defence
Service
Direct
Introduced
means tests
(MC & CC)
Funding:
Demand
led, no
budget
Criminal
Defence
Service Act
2006
LSC employs
defence
lawyers
(public
defenders)
Duty
solicitors
(free) at
Magistrates
Court
Contract
required
from the
LSC
Advantages to the AJA Reforms
Better control over costs via civil’s fixed budget.
Higher standards of work: Only firms with LSC
contracts can provide work.
Quality mark: reinforces high standards.
Resources better allocated: Fixed budgets allow
for correct allocation.
Disadvantages of the AJA Reforms
Limited Access to Justice: only those with a LSC contract can offer services
Cost cutting: priority funding given to criminal cases
No legal aid for defamation cases - McLibel Two (Steel v UK 2005)
Cases removed from legal aid: Personal injury, defamation and malice
falsehood, business disputes.
Concerns over public defenders: not independent if the government employs
both the prosecution and defence.
Poorer standards of work with reliance on contracted firms only.
Huge costs of criminal cases.
Conditional Fee Agreements
Introduced by:
Courts & Legal services Act 1990
Access to Justice Act 1999
‘No win no fee’ base
Uplift/Success Fee
Loser pays the winners costs with insurance policy
Available for all cases except medical negligence.
Advantages & Disadvantages of CFA
Widens access to justice: allows those
ineligible for funding to bring a case.
High risk: cases not accepted due to fear
of losing
No costs to the state
Claimants misled: not always accurate
that they will pay no costs
Financial incentive to win
Insurance policy can be costly
Widens coverage (includes defamation
and tribunals)
Pressure from insurance company to
settle early
Insurance requirement helps to mitigate
against losing
Should lawyers really be so involved in the
financial outcome of a case.
Very popular with the public
The future of legal funding
Lord Carter’s review: Legal Aid: a market-based
approach to reform 2006.
Government paper: Legal Aid: a sustainable
future 2006.
Government paper: Best value Tendering for
Criminal Defence Services (2007)
Aims: to control costs and quality: fixed fees,
fewer/larger contracts etc.
• Lord Jackson’s report: ‘Review of Civil
Litigation in 2011.
• Recommendations published in Legal Aid,
Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act
2012.
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21668005