Law: the legal system

Fach Fach

Klasse 11

Autor Larissa345

Veröffentlicht am 15.10.2018

Schlagwörter

law funding civil criminal

Zusammenfassung

This law presentation is about the legal funding. First there are some examples of cases. Is it either civil or criminal law? Which court will hear the case? What criteria of LASPO apply? It is also about problems in funding.

Harrison is being prosecuted for motoring offences

  • Criminal – summary
  • Magistrates (Court)
  • Solicitor
  • Interest for Justice
  • Dependent
  • Procedure
  • Means testing
  • Magistrates – 1590 – under that free
  • Means – 21.000 – under this pay contribution
  • Under 18 in education
  • Citizen Advice
  • SS
  • Private funding
  • Insurance

Grace – Geoff
Harrison - Jasmine
Lauren – Leanne
Jack – Sian
Rhiannon – Cherry
Jess – Adam

Lauren is a victim of recent accident at work and wants to bring a civil claim of negligence.

  • Case of civil law
  • LASPO 6 criteria
    o Interest for Justice – access to Justice Act 1999 – schedule 3 para 5
  • Tort negligence (JMW compensation calculator) to calculate how much the process will cost
  • County Court
  • LASPO criteria 1 (depends on the injury)
  • LASPO criteria 2 (no)
  • Advice Agency – Conditional fee Advice – no win no fee
  • Success fee
  • Citizen Advice
  • Life insurance
  • TU

Jack wants to bring a claim against their landlord

  • Case of Civil law
  • Claim
  • housing
  • Supreme Court or High Court ?
  • Civil – land – housing
  • LASPO 1) balanced 2) depends on where they live – Advice desert 3) no not important
    AA – CFA – unlikely
  • CAB
  • Housing Insurance
  • LC – Location
  • Private Funding

Rhiannon wants to get divorced from her partner

  • Civil law case
  • Family law, divorce
  • Magistrates , Family Court
  • LASPO – 2 (no fundiry) or 4 (family mediation)
  • Private funding
  • Citizen Advice
  • Solicitor skiing

Jess wants to sue their ex-employer for unfair dismissial

  • Civil
  • Employment, dismissal
  • Tribunal – Solicitor
  • LASPO can meet all criteria
  • Means testing – gross 2.657 Pounds
  • Disposable income is 733 Pounds
  • Capital is 8.000 Pounds
  • AA Citizen Advice, private funding, trade union , CFA but unlikely

Reference Access to Justice ACT 1999 schedule 3 para 5 unterpunkt 2

They will only get funding if they can show they fall in at least one of the five factors;
1.Likely to lose his liberty or livelihood
2.Involves a point of law
3.Individual is unable to understand proceedings
4.Involve the tracing, interview or expert cross examination of witnesses
5.Interest of another person that the individual be represented

•CFAs help the public gain access to justice
•CFAs have a cost linked outcome
•CFAs may encourage early settlement of the case
•Usually the costs are paid by the loser
•Solicitors with CFA work harder to win the case
•The other party must be told if you have a CFA
•Solicitors are reluctant to take difficult cases because of the risk of loosing

Civil Funding Issues
•Funding of civil cases is being restricted continually
•The starting point is that it is not available unless it is a category recognised in the Act or other regulations eg Mental Health Tribunal and children’s rights.
•Many cases no longer qualify for funding eg child contact, divorce, employment, welfare benefits, medical negligence except in very limited circumstances
•The lack of legal funding may result in more people representing themselves (‘litigants in person’).
•This person will be at a distinct disadvantage when faced with a qualified lawyer on the other side.
•This also makes the case very slow and costly to the losing party.
•However for many civil matters there are Conditional Fee Agreements and Damages Based Agreements available.

Evaluation of criminal funding
•¾ of adults do not qualify for legal aid
•Number of solicitors is decreasing
•Criminal cases take priority
•Criteria too harsh

Problems with funding
Lack of lawyers – the Government has cut legal aid fees to lawyers for criminal cases and, as a result, fewer solicitors are taking on legal aid work. This makes it more difficult for defendants to take on their case. There are fewer legal aid firms as a consequence of cuts to legal aid fees.
•Means test – In the Magistrates’ Courts there is a strict test. The levels of income allowed are very low.
•In the Crown Court the limits are less severe, but even here some defendants do not qualify for legal aid.
•As the cases are more serious and it is more expensive to defend a case there is a real risk of injustice due to lack of availability of legal help.