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Revised legal aid reforms published Print E-mail
Tuesday, 08 April 2008

Solicitors will be paid a single fixed fee for cases involving guilty pleas in the Sherriff and Stipendiary Magistrates courts under reforms published today which the Scottish Government says will free up court time.

The reforms, which also include a 10 per cent increase to criminal advice and assistance rates and enhanced payments for duty solicitor work, have come after extended consultation between the Government, the Law Society of Scotland and local Bar Associations.

The summary justice system deals with less serious offences and summary justice accounts for 96 per cent of criminal court business, with over 130,000 cases every year. In 2006-07, £65.2m was spent on summary criminal legal assistance.

Launching the extended reforms, Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill said:

“We have been clear that we need to develop legal aid arrangements which both support our work to reform the summary justice system and pay solicitors appropriately and fairly for the work they do.  The new arrangements will help save time and unnecessary expense enabling summary justice to be fair and swift. However, any proposals for reform to legal aid must be affordable within the very tight financial constraints we face.  With fewer cases likely to go to court unnecessarily, we are able to reinvest savings from the legal aid budget to fund these new arrangements.

“Following concerns expressed by the Law Society and local Bar Associations to our original proposals, I agreed to extend the consultation to the end of January to allow for further discussions. I am grateful for the constructive way that the various representatives of the legal profession engaged in the consultation and the subsequent discussions.”

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