asked the Minister for Justice if he has any proposals to amend the 1965 regulations in relation to criminal free legal aid to impose a quota on the amount of earnings by any one solicitor under the scheme in any one year; and if his attention has been drawn to the fact that a number of solicitors are complaining that the scheme is being monopolised by a relatively small number of solicitors to the detriment of others who are seeking work under this scheme.
Written Answers. - Criminal Legal Aid Scheme.
192.
The earnings of individual lawyers under the criminal legal aid scheme are determined by the number of cases to which they are assigned by the courts. In deciding to assign solicitors to cases the courts are required, under the present regulations, to take account of the preference expressed by an accused person for a particular solicitor. I would be reluctant to make a change that would deprive a defendant of the solicitor of his choice, without a good reason.
I am aware that the bulk of legal aid cases in the Dublin courts are handled by a small group of solicitors due, I understand, to the increased tendency for legal aid applicants to nominate particular solicitors. I have not received any complaints from individual solicitors, or from any representative body on their behalf, about the way in which assignments are made to cases under the scheme.