Courts facing another month of chaos as judicial review of new legal aid model delayed

The courts could be facing at least another month of disruption after the judge dealing with a High Court challenge to the new legal aid payment model told lawyers she would not be ready to make a decision next week.The model, introduced on July 1st, provides for a flat €520 fee for solicitors irrespective of the number of clients or appearances. It led to a widespread withdrawal of services by criminal defence solicitors, leading to thousands of case adjournments and serious disruption to the work of the criminal courts.John Quinn, a lawyer at John M Quinn & Co Solicitors, brought an action in July seeking to quash the statutory instrument underpinning the new model.READ MOREHe is suing the office of the Minister for Justice, with the Law Society of Ireland a notice party to the action.Last Saturday, Law Society president Rosemarie Loftus invited O’Callaghan to enter last minute mediation on the dispute before the new legal year opened on Monday.In a reply on Wednesday, O’Callaghan said mediation was not appropriate when the regulations establishing the new scheme are the subject of a High Court challenge.Judgment on that challenge was due next Tuesday but, on Thursday, Judge Mary Rose Gearty informed lawyers a judgment in the case will not be ready before November 10th.The Chief Justice, Donal O’Donnell, said this week the judiciary was very concerned about the dispute and hoped it would be resolved soon.Solicitors say the new system means they will not be paid for the work they do in more complex cases, including involving children and people with addiction and mental health issues.O’Callaghan has repeatedly said the new scheme is aimed at improving efficiencies and is in the public interest.[ Over 200 solicitors and barristers protest outside Criminal Courts of Justice in DublinOpens in new window ]O’Callaghan, in his Wednesday letter, disputed Loftus’ suggestion the new scheme was based on a “fundamental misunderstanding” of the operation of the District Court.He said it was informed by a “detailed understanding” of District Court processes and “extensive analysis” of previous legal aid arrangements.Addressing the society’s complaints about his continuing failure to provide the data on which his department’s review of criminal legal aid payments was based, O’Callaghan said the data could not be released because it related to “thousands” of individual cases and personal privacy concerns were involved. He said data relating to criminal legal aid cases under the new scheme showed most were disposed of in one hearing and almost all were dealt with within five appearances, the average under the previous legal aid system. Separately, in replies on Wednesday to parliamentary questions from Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon, the Minister said 2,400 new legal aid certificates have issued under the scheme and about 36 solicitors who had resigned from the legal aid panel had been reinstated.In response to the Minister’s claims the old system was being “abused”, with people “getting 50/60 certificates for one accused before the court”, Gannon said that had happened in three instances. The Minister replied there were “much more than three instances”.What is happening in courts around the country is “a shambles” and the Minister “can fix it”, said Gannon.