MacAskill raises legal aid threshold in attempt to shore up lawyers profits from civil litigation & avoid legal services reform

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill has always said he would protect the legal profession no matter what, and well, that is to be expected because he himself is a solicitor.

On his way to protecting the legal profession, Mr MacAskill has announced the 'wider availability' of legal aid from next spring, as he raises the upper threshold of disposable income to £25,000 from the current £10,306 - where people have to start making contributions.

Mr MacAskill's strategy, after long discussions with the Law Society of Scotland and the Faculty of Advocates, is apparently to ply us with cheap sound bytes, and money from nowhere to boost business for lawyers in civil law cases and perhaps more importantly, to avoid opening up the Scottish legal services market to competition, after increasing protests from the Law Society their member legal firms are suffering through not enough business (and are having to hike client bills to extortionate levels).

However at the end of the day, there isn't actually any new Civil Legal Aid money on the table, its all about shifting the goal posts once again and giving the impression to the rest of the country there will be more availablility of legal aid, when in truth there is actually less.

It is still a case of Buyer Beware though ... as the same traps still exist for those in receipt of civil legal aid where a loss of a case, or even a win can mean the Legal Aid Board will hunt you down for every penny you received from them … and as many accounts show, clients in receipt of civil legal aid are not always treated equitably or fairly by the legal system and the Legal Aid Board itself ...

The Herald reports :

MacAskill announces plan to give more help with civil legal aid

Changes to the legal aid system mean that more than a million more Scots could be eligible for help with the cost of civil cases, Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said yesterday.

He announced that the threshold at which people are no longer eligible for civil legal aid was being increased.

The change comes into effect from next spring and Mr MacAskill said it "should mean that around three-quarters of the adult population will be potentially eligible for legal aid".

Currently, around 42% of Scots are eligible for civil legal aid, helping them with the legal costs of cases such as divorce proceedings, child custody cases and employment tribunals.

But a key factor in whether or not they get legal aid is their disposal income.

At the moment people with a disposal income of £3156 a year or less pay no contribution towards their legal costs, while those with an annual disposable income of up to £10,306 make a contribution towards these.

The changes will mean that the upper threshold is increased to £25,000, with a tapered system of contributions for those with annual disposable incomes of between £10,306 and £25,000.

Mr MacAskill revealed details of the change when he spoke at a conference on legal aid organised by the Scottish Legal Aid Board and the Law Society of Scotland.

Speaking at the event in Dunblane, the Justice Secretary said: "I have long considered it unfair that people of relatively modest means can find themselves unable to pursue a complex and expensive legal action. As a first step towards correcting that unfairness we will increase the financial eligibility limits for civil legal aid with an appropriately tapered contribution regime.

"From next spring, the upper limit for disposable income will increase to £25,000 which should mean that around three-quarters of the adult population will be potentially eligible for legal aid. For the first time in many a year, legal aid is being rolled out, not rolled back."

Mr MacAskill also said that the Scottish Government was working with the Scottish Legal Aid Board to bring forward simplified and increased fees for civil legal practitioners.

While the Law Society of Scotland welcomed the changes, it said more details were needed.

Oliver Adair, the convener of the Society's legal aid committee, said: "The Law Society of Scotland supports any initiative which extends access to justice. However, we would like to see more details of the financial eligibility, in particular the contributions levels people will have to pay."

Labour justice spokesman Richard Baker also said more detail about the change was needed. He said: "Widening access to justice is essential but there is very little detail with this announcement. We need to know whether people will be expected to pay an affordable financial contribution, otherwise the change may have less value in practice."

Lockerbie bomber must wait on judges consideration of bail plea as Crown opposes release

Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the man convicted of the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie in 1988 must wait on his bail plea while judges weighed the evidence of his terminal health, not to mention the fact his case has made a mockery of Scots Law and the judiciary who have been willing accomplices to a great injustice for political gain …

The Scotsman reports :

Megrahi must wait as judges weigh 'compelling' case for release on bail

Published Date: 07 November 2008
By JOHN ROBERTSON
Law Correspondent

THERE is a "compelling" case to release on bail the terminally ill Lockerbie bomber, a court heard yesterday.

But Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi and relatives of his 270 victims will have to wait to hear whether he is to be allowed to leave prison.

Appeal judges heard Megrahi's application for bail and said they wanted time to consider their decision.

The Libyan's lawyer said he did not have long to live, and would stay with his family in the west of Scotland if he were freed. The Crown opposed Megrahi's release, arguing his prognosis was "uncertain" and that he could receive in jail whatever medical treatment was required.

For reasons of "sensitivity", details of his condition were not disclosed at yesterday's hearing.

Megrahi, 56, was convicted in 2001 of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 and is serving a minimum 27-year life sentence. He has already lost one appeal, but is pursuing a second, which is unlikely to begin before next spring.

The defence counsel, Margaret Scott, QC, told the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh: "He is terminally ill. His suffering will be reduced if he is released from prison conditions.

"Medically, the treatment will be the same, but his suffering will be reduced clearly if he is allowed to reside with his family while he deteriorates from his illness."

She added: "There is a compelling case for the release of this man on interim liberation."

Ms Scott said Megrahi was married with five children aged 25 to ten, and two grandchildren. Immediately after his conviction, his family moved to Glasgow, and are required each year to apply for visas. If given bail, he would stay with his family in Strathclyde. Measures would be taken for his personal security.

There was no risk of Megrahi fleeing Scotland, and an undertaking had been given by a Libyan government official that he would not be allowed into the country unless it was appropriate for him to return, she said.

The advocate-depute, Ronald Clancy, QC, said that, in light of the Libyan government saying different things at different times in the past about accepting responsibility for the bombing, the court should be reticent to attach any weight to its current undertaking.

But the "dominant" reasons for opposing Megrahi's release were the "incomparable" gravity of his crime and the unanimous verdict returned against him by the three judges at his trial.

Mr Clancy said that the Crown at the appeal would argue that there were good reasons for concluding that Megrahi's conviction was not a miscarriage of justice.

In relation to his illness, the diagnosis was not disputed but the prognosis was uncertain.

"As far as physical symptoms are concerned, he is essentially symptom-free," he said. "There is very minor discomfort for which analgesic treatment was offered but declined.

"As for psychological effects, there is no suggestion he is suffering from or on the verge of a recognised condition."

Mr Clancy said there was a system for Scottish ministers to allow compassionate release of prisoners where death was "likely to occur soon" and a life expectancy of three months had been thought appropriate.

"It cannot be said (Megrahi] is in that category," said Mr Clancy.

The appeal judges are expected to announce their decision within days rather than weeks.

TIMELINE

21 DECEMBER, 1988: Pan Am Flight 103 explodes over Lockerbie, killing 270 people.

13 NOVEMBER, 1991: Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi and Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah indicted.

31 JANUARY, 2001: Megrahi found guilty.

25 NOVEMBER, 2003: Three judges at High Court in Glasgow set 27-year minimum term on his sentence.

15 OCTOBER, 2008: He wins latest step in a long-running battle to overturn conviction.

21 OCTOBER, 2008: It is revealed the 56-year-old has advanced prostate cancer.

Scots Law should use more English to attract business despite worst performing lawyers in Europe

One of the ways in which Scotland can attract legal business, if anyone is mad enough to come to this jurisdiction, is to use more plain English, recommends the Business Experts and Law forum (sounds shady)… but clients would have to get over the absolutely dire quality of the Scots legal profession as well as the layers & levels of useless laws designed to flummox even the most brilliant of legal minds, of which there are very few north of the Carter Bar …

No improvements expected as long as Kenny MacAskill is the Justice Secretary …. (laugh)

The Herald reports :

Scots law should use more plain English, says panel

STEWART PATERSON November 04 2008

Scotland should market itself more aggressively to the world as a place to do legal business, according to a panel of government-appointed experts who say the country has the potential to turn itself into "the Switzerland of dispute resolution".

To help make this happen, court procedures need to be expressed in more plain English, they said.

More temporary judges, an expansion of the Commercial Court and a review of cost recovery limits are also proposed.

The Business Experts and Law forum, a panel of nine set up by Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill to investigate ways to make the system more attractive to business, included representatives from the CBI, the Law Society of Scotland, the Faculty of Advocates and leading financial institutions.

They found reasons why businesses would opt for English courts over Scots for contracts and litigation, including the "increasing harmonisation of Scots and English Law", mainly as a result of EU directives.

Businessmen were baffled by terminology, which used the term "taxation" for the assessment of legal fees, their report said.

However, a range of measures are recommended to fulfil what the panel sees as "the potential for Scotland's dispute resolution system to be developed and marketed as a just, integrated and efficient neutral system that runs like clockwork - the Switzerland of dispute resolution".

Fergus Ewing, Community Safety Minister, said: "Scotland's legal system has a proud and illustrious history. However, it is important that it continues to provide a first- class service to both members of the public and businesses.

"The Scottish Government is determined that our law firms should be able to compete internationally and that our legal system should be more attractive to major businesses.

"That is why I asked this group of some of our best business and legal brains to look at how we can encourage business organisations both large and small to use our legal services.

"I welcome their recognition that Scotland can play a leading role as a centre for dispute resolution, and our legal services should be included in any marketing of Scotland and its businesses. I will now consider the forum's report in detail as we take forward our plans to reform the legal profession and develop our arbitration bill."

Michael Clancy, of the Law Society of Scotland, said: "The report contains some very good recommendations that would enhance the reputation of Scottish lawyers internationally, and we will be looking at it in greater detail."