Advertisement
Australia markets closed
  • ALL ORDS

    8,153.70
    +80.10 (+0.99%)
     
  • AUD/USD

    0.6495
    -0.0041 (-0.63%)
     
  • ASX 200

    7,896.90
    +77.30 (+0.99%)
     
  • OIL

    82.15
    +0.80 (+0.98%)
     
  • GOLD

    2,232.60
    +19.90 (+0.90%)
     
  • Bitcoin AUD

    108,951.03
    +1,003.38 (+0.93%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    885.54
    0.00 (0.00%)
     

‘System in crisis’: Legal Aid funding cut by $10 million in NSW budget

Vulnerable Aussies needing legal assistance will be hit hardest by the cuts to Legal Aid in the NSW 2019-20 budget. Right: NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet at the budget release. (Photo: Getty, AAP)
Vulnerable Aussies needing legal assistance will be hit hardest by the cuts to Legal Aid in the NSW 2019-20 budget. Right: NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet at the budget release. (Photo: Getty, AAP)

Funds for the body assisting those unable to afford legal representation have been slashed in the NSW’s state budget revealed on Tuesday.

Legal Aid Commission of NSW, funded primarily by the Commonwealth and the NSW Government, had its shoestring funding cut by 2.6 per cent from $365.7 million from last year to $356 million.

The legal representation body assists those on very low incomes experiencing issues with Centrelink, discrimination, debt, eviction, rent or mortgage difficulties, as well as those experiencing domestic violence, needing child support or require assistance in court sentences and hearings.

ADVERTISEMENT

The funding cut has led law societies NSW Bar Association and the Law Society of NSW to sound the alarm, with both warning that the reduction in funding makes Legal Aid work unviable for lawyers and leads to poorer quality legal representation.

The current state of legal aid rates are “abysmal” and making it “increasingly difficult” for barristers to put in the hours required to prepare their clients’ cases and satisfy ethical obligations, said NSW Bar Association president Tim Game.

The current rate of pay for private practitioners undertaking legal aid work is $150, a rate that hasn’t increased since 2007 nor kept up with consumer price index (CPI) increases.

“This means that barristers undertaking legal aid work have experienced at least a 20 per cent reduction in fees in real terms over the last twelve years.

“As a result, it is no longer financially sustainable for many barristers to spend the time and do all that is necessary to undertake legal aid work.”

As it currently stands, the hourly legal fee for barristers paid by Legal Aid NSW is “substantially less than the fees paid by other NSW government agencies,” the NSW Bar Association said.

On top of that, fixed rates for preparation time don’t accurately reflect the amount of work involved in preparing for more complex cases.

For example, barristers might be paid for five hours of work per court day, but the average court day involves ten hours of work or more to properly prepare and represent clients.

“The court day on which legal aid fees operate, and other arbitrary restrictions, mean that in addition to working at a substantially discounted rate, lawyers are expected to provide a further contribution by working many additional days and hours for free,” said Game.

‘System in crisis’

The current system is weighted unfairly against those who can’t fork out high legal fees, he added.

“The lack of funding inevitably leads to a decline in experienced practitioners undertaking legal aid work which will in turn result in an increase in self-represented litigants, effectively creating one system for those who can afford legal representation and one for those who cannot.”

Speaking to Yahoo Finance, Law Society NSW president Elizabeth Espinosa said many solicitors were working unpaid hours to keep the legal system going and ensure vulnerable community members had access to legal services.

“We have the situation where solicitors are effectively treating legal aid work as pro bono work,” she said.

But such a system is unsustainable.

“While pro bono work is a highly commendable and long-standing tradition of the profession, it is not a substitute for a properly funded legal aid system,” said Espinosa.

“Unfortunately, if the lack of adequate remuneration for legal practitioners is not addressed, we will continue to see experienced solicitors reluctantly withdraw from legally aided matters, particularly in the regional and remote areas of the state.”

Ultimately, it will be the most vulnerable members of NSW who will lose out from the reduced funding stipulated in the NSW 2019-20 budget.

“Our concern is the impact this will have on those people at the lowest end of the poverty threshold – those who are struggling to deal with family violence, criminal and debt matters,” Espinosa told Yahoo Finance.

“Limiting access to justice can result in these matters reaching a crisis point, that ultimately manifests in other jurisdictions with serious consequences for those individuals and families, including such as crime, and/or in the removal of children.”

‘Juniorisation’ of legal aid work

If fees continue to remain at such a low rate, more experienced legal practitioners will withdraw from taking up legal aid work, leading to poorer-quality outcomes for vulnerable community members.

“In our view, it is due to private practitioners working many additional unpaid hours that has kept the system going for so long,” said Law Society NSW in its 2019 State Election Platform report.

“This is resulting in the ‘juniorisation’ of legal aid work, and a diminution in the quality of legally aided matters.

“There is a risk that the mixed-service delivery model will collapse due to insufficient numbers of private practitioners undertaking legally aided work.”

How much should the hourly rate be?

What would an acceptable rate be for experienced legal practitioners to sustainably continue legal aid work?

According to the Law Society of NSW, $250 per hour.

“The combination of a low hourly rate paid to private practitioners and insufficient time claimable under the fee scales means the system is in crisis. Unless the Government provides substantial additional funding, the issues will remain,” the Law Society NSW report stated.

“We suggest that an increase in the hourly rate to $250 an hour with an annual review and CPI increase, and an increase in the time claimable to undertake matters, would significantly ameliorate these issues.

“It is due to private practitioners working many additional unpaid hours that has kept the system going for so long, and this is no longer sustainable.”

Make your money work with Yahoo Finance’s daily newsletter. Sign up here and stay on top of the latest money, news and tech news.