Legal aid fee row could impact court hearings tomorrow

There is expected to be major disruption to the work of the courts tomorrow after several lawyers indicated that they would stop taking free legal aid cases in protest at plans to reform solicitors' fees under the free legal aid scheme.

Under the current system, solicitors receive €240 for a client's first appearance, and €60 for each subsequent hearing.

However the Minister for Justice wants to replace this with a once-off flat fee of €520 per defendant, claiming that the system of multiple payments offers a perverse incentive for additional hearings and puts pressure on court resources.

The new fee regime, which is due to come into effect tomorrow, has generated considerable anger among solicitors who have been engaging in escalating action.

Lawyers in Cork have threatened to resign from the free legal aid scheme en-masse tif the proposed new fee structure goes ahead.

Thomas Coughlan, Principal at Thomas Coughlan and Co Solicitors in Cork, has said he is coming off the legal panel tomorrow as are other lawyers in his practice.

"We're all taking the same move and at a meeting of Cork solicitors yesterday morning - which is representative of solicitors in Cork city and county - that sentiment was shared," he said on RTÉ's Morning Ireland programme.

"I expect that every solicitor on the legal aid panel in Cork tomorrow will come off the panel or be unavailable for the panel as and from tomorrow."

As a result, he said, there will be no new criminal legal aid cases able to proceed in the courts in Cork.

"I want to be in court tomorrow. We all want to be in court tomorrow. We all want to be at our jobs tomorrow. We all want to be representing people, to do what we love.

"But the fact of the matter is ... that the scheme has been unilaterally altered by the Minister for Justice. And as a result of it, we can't participate in the scheme."

In relation to the claim by the minister that multiple payments offers a perverse incentive for additional court hearings, Mr Coughlan rejected it saying that it was not true.

"All these cases are under the superintendence of a judge. If I go into the judge and I ask for an adjournment of the case for my own purposes, the judge will ask me why.

"And if I don't have a good reason, I can tell you that that adjournment is not going to be granted," he said.

He said that there are many factors that go into adjourning cases, and solicitors are only one of the stakeholders in this.

Legally aided cases are usually for people facing serious charges and often facing prison time, Mr Coughlan explained.

"Usually the profile of a client on legal aid is somebody with complex issues, addictions, problems in the domestic settings, lots and lots of issues arise in relation to those cases and judges give them more time.

"But they deserve more time," he said.

"Our work isn't just standing before the judge on the day. Our work is going through all of the disclosure materials, meeting with the clients and doing all the other work that goes into providing the service.

"We have a team, we have staff to pay, we have a business to run."

Mr Coughlan said that the changes to the fees were not acceptable because they were not being paid for the work that they do. "We're being paid for a 'one and done' regardless of how many times you have to commit yourself to the case."

The Council of the Law Society of Ireland held an emergency meeting last night to discuss the issue.

Under the new system, solicitors will be paid one fee per defendant regardless of the number of appearances.

A flat fee of €455 had been proposed by the department but the minister is expected to tell the Oireachtas Justice Committee today that he is proposing the higher fee of €520 per client.