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In response to media enquiries on the criminal legal aid fees system following remarks made at the Legal Year Opening Ceremony today (January 9), the Government clarified that the scale of fees payable to counsel and solicitors in criminal legal aid cases were prescribed in the law, viz the Legal Aid in Criminal Cases Rules, a piece of subsidiary legislation of the Criminal Procedure Ordinance. The Legal Aid Department (LAD) paid assigned lawyers the criminal legal aid fees in accordance with the statutory provisions.
"In 2004-05, the LAD has assigned out 2,900 criminal cases and the total amount of criminal legal aid fees paid was over $90 million," the Government spokesman said.
LAD has not encountered any difficulties in engaging quality and experienced lawyers in representing the legal aid clients. In both 2004 and 2005, there were over 570 counsel and over 1,400 solicitors on the Legal Aid Panel who expressed an interest in undertaking criminal work. About 80% of the work was assigned to counsel and solicitors with rich experience: over 10 years' post admission experience.
"Notwithstanding the above, we have recently invited nominations from the two legal professional bodies to facilitate direct exchange of views with the relevant departments, to see whether and how the criminal legal aid fee regime may be improved, and to examine the financial implications," the spokesman said.
Ends/Monday, January 9, 2006
Issued at HKT 18:46
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