No 10 Downing Street
Thread Starter
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 11,504
Likes: 241
From: Sunny Norf*ck
No 10 Downing Street
I just had an email from No 10 Downing Street about a petition that was raised some months ago concerning reimbursement of legal fees to defendants acquitted of motoring offences in the Magistrates' Court. This is the No 10 web site's response. Looks like business as usual and no surprises, a stiff arm response (roughly translated to 'feck off') from some unelected smart arse brown-bumming lick-spittle in the No 10 office.
And the response ... [QUOTE=Reply from No 10]While the Government accepts that individuals who are acquitted in the magistrates’ court should continue to have access to Central Funds, it is essential that we also target our resources effectively, secure value for money for the taxpayer and control areas of overspend in our budget. The Government does not believe that defendants will be more likely to plead guilty to offences they would otherwise deny. Defendants who pay for representation privately do so without certainty that they will be acquitted. If acquitted, there is no guarantee that any particular sum would be assessed as reasonable. We believe that the rates we pay for criminal cases under legal aid are both fair and sustainable and should be available on the open market.
Originally Posted by Details of Petition
The Ministry of Justice plan to implement a new costs recovery system from October 2009. Under new rules any defendant acquitted of an offence in the Magistrates’ Court will only be reimbursed at prevailing legal aid rates regardless of the level of costs they paid to their lawyers. This proposed rule change will undoubtedly mean that many defendants will accept wrongful prosecutions for commercial reasons. The Association of Motor Offence Lawyers (of which I am President) see thousands of convictions each year in the Magistrates’ Court that should never occur due to misunderstanding of technical points concerning motoring legislation. If a defendant wishes to clear their name, they often have to take their case to the Crown Court. This can be an expensive process for which legal aid is unavailable which many will not embark upon with the knowledge that even when they win their appeal, they will lose the majority of the legal fees they spend in the process. The costs savings the government are seeing to make could be made by examining and improving other ineffective processes within the court system. It is not fair to pass yet another expense onto the public.
Registered User
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 25,255
Likes: 0
From: Cheshire
We believe that lawyers are able to provide a reasonable service at legal aid rates
There's a very good reason so few lawyers will do legal aid work these days. And no motoring lawyer worth his salt is going to offer to do it as a favour when Joe Public walks in off the street and wants help with a traffic summons, as opposed to having to do it to retain a legal aid franchise.
Legal aid rates are a joke and the MoJ know that.
Trending Topics
Community Organizer
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 6,810
Likes: 3
From: MUGEN 無限 POWER
Originally Posted by Lurking Lawyer,Jan 25 2010, 08:31 PM
That shows how out of touch they really are then - or alternatively how far their tongue must have been in their cheek.
There's a very good reason so few lawyers will do legal aid work these days. And no motoring lawyer worth his salt is going to offer to do it as a favour when Joe Public walks in off the street and wants help with a traffic summons, as opposed to having to do it to retain a legal aid franchise.
Legal aid rates are a joke and the MoJ know that.
There's a very good reason so few lawyers will do legal aid work these days. And no motoring lawyer worth his salt is going to offer to do it as a favour when Joe Public walks in off the street and wants help with a traffic summons, as opposed to having to do it to retain a legal aid franchise.
Legal aid rates are a joke and the MoJ know that.
The government are cutting budgets each year denying people people at the lowest strata of society with access to justice.
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 9,022
Likes: 1
From: There's no i in toast!
Originally Posted by AquilaEagle,Jan 25 2010, 08:11 PM
Don't think I have ever heard of one of these petitions that has had a successful result (in the eye of the petitioners) 
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 31,181
Likes: 58
From: Hertford
Originally Posted by j8mie,Jan 26 2010, 12:08 PM
Alan Turing's received an official apologies from Gordon Brown about his treatment after WW2. But then saying sorry to a dead man is easy and doesn't cost joe tax payer anything.