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Will legal aid reforms spell disaster for medical negligence victims?
Will legal aid reforms spell disaster for medical negligence victims?
Speaking in the House of Commons, Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke has unveiled major changes to the system of civil legal aid in England and Wales. The plans are designed to save the Government around £350million a year by 2015, reducing the number of civil litigation cases by around 500,000. Despite saying that civil legal aid would be routinely available in cases where life or liberty are at stake, Mr. Clarke has cut legal for a wide range of civil cases including clinical negligence and personal injury. What will these reforms mean to the victims of negligence while in the car of medical professionals?
A ‘toothless tiger’
The Government acts as the funder of legal aid litigation and provides the compensation to the defendant in the event that they win their case. It is inevitable that axing legal aid to certain civil cases will save the government significant sums of money. However, critics of this reform argue that the changes are rendering the justice system as effective as a toothless tiger, excluding those who need aid the most from seeking justice. Where Kenneth Clarke says that he proposes “to introduce a more targeted civil and family scheme which will discourage people from resorting to lawyers whenever they face a problem and instead to encourage them to consider more suitable methods of dispute resolution”, critics contest that the reforms will have to find alternative means of funding, which may well be beyond their means.
Nicolas Jervis, Managing Director of personal injury specialists 1stClaims believes that these reforms need careful thought. He says that: “while the Government’s desire to change the public’s attitude towards civil litigation may be a laudable one, it should not be at the expense of those who do not have sufficient funds to pursue legal action. By phasing out legal aid for medical negligence cases, many firms might simply stop offering to undertake publicly funded work, leading to a drought of legal aid lawyers in certain areas.” Nicolas thinks that the reforms may need reviewing before they are implemented. “In Lord Justice Jackson’s review of civil litigation, he stated that the maintenance of legal aid would be necessary to uphold his changes to the no win, no fee system. Without legal aid, the Lord Justice’s recommendations would be that much harder to implement.”
Legal aid deserts
Part of the Government’s drive seems to be to encourage a rise in no win, no fee cases. However, by insisting that lawyers forgo success fees, many lawyers may be prevented from taking on such cases in the first place. By creating legal aid deserts, those who want pursue justice will have to travel further in order to find lawyers who are happy to undertake publicly funded cases.
Mr Clarke’s plans are open for consultation until February 2011. During that time, the legal profession will wait to see just how the revised no win, no fee system will affect their ability to represent victims of medical negligence who otherwise may not have the financial abilities to hold medical professionals to account.
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