Legal compensation in UK for acquitted defendants to be axed, while pay parity in Ireland for criminal barristers is removed

The UK coalition government has revived its predecessor's proposal to cut legal compensation for acquitted criminal defendants. Currently, section 16 of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 allows a judge to award acquitted defendants any costs "reasonably sufficient to compensate the defendant for any expenses which he has properly incurred in the proceedings." The Coalition proposal would allow legal fees awarded where the defendant has taken private representation to be capped at legal aid rates set by the government.

When the reforms were initially introduced by the previous Labour government, they were opposed by the attorney general, solicitor general and justice ministers. A Ministry of Justice spokesman said there was a need "to strike a fair balance between refunding costs to people who are found not guilty and protecting the taxpayer from ending up paying a bill for costs which are either overly expensive or not necessary." A Guardian article on this issue says that the changes are in response to instances of celebrities and their allegedly opportunistic attorneys incurring large defence costs after successfully defending minor charges.

However, the Law Society of England and Wales and Sound Off For Justice oppose the change, claiming its effect will be wide-reaching and will lead to many defendants experiencing a significant shortfall. This is because legal aid rates - which in practice often only cover a quarter of actual costs in most cases - are far too low to compensate a private (ie non-legal aid) lawyer for the effective defence of criminal cases.

Meanwhile, the Department of Justice in Ireland has proposed the removal of pay parity between defence and prosecution lawyers in criminal cases. The announcement came in a letter to the Law Society from the Department of Justice's secretary general, Sean Aylward, in which he pointed out that the National Recovery Plan 2011-2014 included a commitment to reduce expenditure on criminal legal aid.

The Department of Justice will implement the change by lowering criminal legal aid rates and reimbursements across the board. The office of the Director of Public Prosecutions is outside the Department of Justice and operates its own budget, and does not have an obligation to match these cuts. This change has led to concern that defendants will not have equal footing in court because lower legal aid rates may discourage good lawyers from doing defence work.

Click here to see an article in the Irish Times about this proposed change.

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