Solicitors consider approaching barristers to join strike over new legal fees scheme

Some solicitors resisting a new model for criminal defence fees want to enlist barristers to their strike action in an intensification of their fight against Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan.More than 100 Dublin-based solicitors met on Thursday to discuss plans to intensify their resistance to O’Callaghan’s flat-fee payment of €520 per client in District Court cases, replacing payments for each court appearance.The solicitors raised the possibility of seeking further support from barristers including potentially asking them to withdraw their services, as solicitors have done since last month, further disrupting the operation the courts. The impact on the ground of the dispute between the Minister and criminal defence lawyers over a new legal aid payment scheme will intensify in the coming week with the full reopening of district courts following the summer recess. READ MOREThe Irish Times understands that at the meeting there was discussion about seeking further support from barristers in the dispute up to and including the withdrawal of services. However, it is understood there was no formal decision on this issue.The dispute centres on changes to the legal aid payment system announced in July which includes the introduction of a flat fee.In a letter to the Law Society on Thursday, O’Callaghan rejected compromise proposals that up to five legal aid certificates could be granted in respect of separate and distinct matters involving the same defendant before the same court on the same day. “I do not believe that such an approach is compatible with the objectives of the revised scheme,” he said. The Minister defended his reforms which, he said, were aimed at making the District Court “more efficient for court users and to provide a simpler, more efficient system of remuneration, while reducing the administrative burden associated with the previous arrangements”.Tony Collier, partner in Ferry’s Solicitors, said it was clear from the meeting on Thursday that the withdrawal of services would continue.He said in Dublin only two special sittings of the District Court took place each day in August but the full complement would reopen in the coming week.[ Dublin solicitors to continue withdrawal of services as courts prepare to returnOpens in new window ]He said in August several accused people had gone to the High Court seeking to vindicate their right to bail “on foot of the failure of the State to provide them with a solicitor”.“We are concerned there will be an increase in such applications in the month of September”, he said.Collier said solicitors would also not attend Garda stations under the criminal legal aid scheme as part of the dispute. He said he hoped the overall matter could be resolved before the trial courts – the Circuit Court, the Central Criminal Court and the Special Criminal Court – resumed operations in October. The Minister, in his letter, said the central policy objective of his reform was the replacement of the previous appearance-based model with a single flat fee of €520 per case, calculated to compensate for the average number of appearances – five – under the old system. He said he had already made significant changes on foot of concerns raised by lawyers.He said the flat fee was increased from €455 to €520, a proposed €100 payment for cases sent forward for trial was withdrawn and a separate payment for certificates issued in respect of the execution of bench warrants had been introduced.O’Callaghan said the Law Society’s proposal that up to five legal aid certificates could be granted “while presented as a limited adjustment would in practice reintroduce the possibility of multiple certificates being awarded in circumstances where the policy intention is to move to a single fee per case”.“Once the principle of multiple certificates is reintroduced, the fundamental basis of the new model is weakened. I am therefore not persuaded that such a change would be appropriate,” he said.The Minister said the interests of accused people, victims, court users and the wider administration of justice were best served by the operation of a stable and effective criminal legal aid system.“The new arrangements are now in operation, substantial accommodations have been made in response to concerns raised and a mechanism exists to review their operation in light of objective evidence.“In those circumstances I would encourage all solicitors who provide criminal legal aid services to participate in the scheme as the District Court resumes after the summer recess,” he said.