Lawyers to earn higher legal aid fees for early guilty pleas

[rpannier]

Lawyers will be given financial incentives to encourage clients to plead guilty early under government reforms to legal aid but will lose money if cases go to trial, according to solicitors in London.

The warning emerged during the last day of the Ministry of Justice's consultation on saving £220m from the annual criminal legal aid budget and as former Liberal Democrats prepared to protest outside the party's headquarters against coalition support for the policy.

snip

"A client pleading guilty to a standard actual bodily harm charge in crown court will earn their lawyer as much as a 20% fee increase," the LCCSA said. "There are some cases in the crown court where a quick guilty plea will earn a lawyer a 75% fee increase.

link:
http://www.theguardian.com/law/2013/nov/01/lawyers-higher-legal-aid-fees-early-guilty-plea

[No Elephants]

1. Ah, the Crown's Legal Aid. What a relief.

For a minute, there, I worried that poor people in the US were still getting free or reasonably priced legal services, other than a public defender within the criminal court system.

:sarcasm:

(Almost typed "criminal justice system." Then, I realized that I was about to type an oxymoron.)

"Lawyers will be given financial incentives to encourage clients to plead guilty early under government reforms to legal aid but will lose money if cases go to trial, according to solicitors in London."

Well, I'm sure that will present no conflict of interest whatsoever. Each and every lawyer will base their advice to the client solely on what is best for the client.


more :sarcasm:

It will be interest to see how much if guilty pleas increase.

They are way too frequent as it is because public defenders are not paid very much and need to make it up in volume. Also because it's easier and cheaper to enter a plea than defend a case successfully.

You scare the client by telling them that they could get umpteen consecutive life sentences if they lose in court, whereas the prosecution's offer ensures them only three years in jail, less time off for good behavior. So what if they're only accused of running a traffic light and they claim to be innocent to boot?

Why risk losing in court and look like a bad lawyer? Besides, who needs a criminal to have a grudge against you?

[Enthusiast]

2. Fer Christ's sake!

Sickening.