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How The Legal Aid Cuts May Affect Your Access To Specialist Motoring Solicitors

You may not have heard about the proposed legal aid changes, which will see the majority of Legal Aid practices no longer being able to offer Legal Aid services in as little as a year’s time.

 

While the news is sending ripples of panic and anger through the legal world, most of the public will have heard little, if anything, about the changes.

 

Basically, Legal Aid firms will be required to compete to secure contracts under the new regime, which will limit the number of Legal Aid firms allowed to operate in each area.  Whole counties may be reduced to as few as 8 Legal Aid firms to serve them in the future, and the applicants will be judged not on the quality of the service they provide or on the expertise of their staff, but on how little they are prepared to be paid for Legal Aid work.

 

If you require Legal Aid, you will be assigned to a particular firm.  You will not choose who represents you for what will, no doubt, be one of the most important situations you will have ever faced.

 

It is a race to the bottom.

 

Many people are imagining that private paying work such as the majority of motoring law will be unaffected by these changes.  As a private paying client, you will still have access to a wide variety of firms.  You will still be able to select who represents you based on any number of factors that are important to you.

 

It is easy to imagine that these changes will not affect you.

 

As with any shift, however, there will be ripple effects.  There will be firms desperately reliant on Legal Aid work who will be forced to search for ways to replace the income they will lose when they are not successfully given one of the Legal Aid contracts for their area.

 

Some of these firms will close.  This is a fact.  Very established general practices with a reliance on Legal Aid will not be able to survive without Legal Aid contracts.

 

Some other firms will continue to exist if they have large private client or commercial departments that can remain profitable.

 

And some will look for new streams of income.

 

The number of motoring law firms will increase as a result of the changes.  Solicitors who have a long-established and successful private Legal Aid practice will naturally look to private criminal and motoring law to replace some of their lost income.

 

This means that when you ring, intending to speak to a motoring law specialist who knows the intricacies of motoring law, you may actually speak to a department that still thinks, talks and acts like a criminal Legal Aid department.

 

These people may be excellent at defending you should you ever be charged with burglary, assault or criminal damage.  They will be brilliant at handling prison law cases, should you ever be sentenced to a custodial sentence or commit an offence – affray, for example – whilst in prison.  They will be used to sending out letters to clients at NFA (No Fixed Abode) and will be experienced at negotiating bail conditions and explaining why clients who have broken bail conditions should be given one last chance before being sent to prison.

 

The lawyers within these departments will be used to attending Court and juggling many clients all with cases to be heard that day – you, as a private motoring law client will expect a specialist solicitor or barrister who is focused solely on your case.  These lawyers will not be surprised to deal with clients who beg for prison sentences so they at least have a roof over their head – you may be fighting to avoid a disqualification so that you can keep your job and continue to pay for the roof over your head.

 

The criminal Legal Aid department is a very worthwhile, hard working and valuable organisation.  The changes to our Legal Aid system will be devastating for countless professionals who have devoted their careers to Legal Aid work, and the countless clients who need to be defended and have no way of funding private representation.

 

We are against the changes and stand in support of our colleagues who devote themselves to Legal Aid work.

 

But the changes are coming; they will happen; and the ripples will be far reaching.

 

Be prepared within the next year to see many new ‘motoring law firms’ emerge, with shiny new websites.  Be prepared to ask how long they have been specialists, how many speeding cases they have won due to incorrect signage, which case law they would rely on for a drink driving spiked drinks case.

 

The times are changing; be prepared.

Does Your Ethnicity Affect Your Access To A Fair Hearing?

Today’s post raises a controversial and hugely important question:

Does your ethnicity affect your access to a fair hearing?

I’ll be honest, it’s a question I hadn’t considered in much detail until recently.

I’m an open-minded person, I’m not racist and I don’t know or associate with people who are racist.  Professionally, I represent people of all ethnicities and, in fact, the majority of my clients are not White British.  It makes absolutely no difference to me or the rest of my team here at Forrest Williams.

You can perhaps imagine my surprise when, a few weeks ago, I was contacted by a new client who needed my help.

This person had received a letter from the DVLA advising that he had to return his licence within 28 days as he had been convicted of speeding, and 6 points needed to be put on his licence.  Furthermore, he had also been fined £700.

Nothing too unusual there; we hear often from people who have been convicted of driving offences in their absence because they have never received the Notice of Intended Prosecution.

What made this case strange was that the Defendant was not our client.  They did not share the same name.  They did not share the same address.  And they did not drive the same car.

Our client had been chosen at random to be convicted of an offence committed by someone else.

Why?

Our client was of Chinese origin with a Chinese name.  The Defendant also had a Chinese name, which was slightly similar to the client’s name.

We spoke to the Court about this, and queried how our client had become involved in this.

We explained that his name – Tian Long Cheung* – was completely different from the name of the Defendant – Tao Liang Cheung*.

The Court staff replied; “but they’re similar names, aren’t they?”

As if it was acceptable that our client was having to go through the worry, inconvenience and expense of this situation because his name was unfamiliar to the British legal system.

Fortunately, we finally managed to convince the Court that they should impose the points and fine against the Defendant, rather than a random person with a similar name, but we found the case  and, in particular, the Court’s apparent lack of concern about this, very worrying.

Nationwide Specialist Motoring Lawyers Appear At 187 Courts!

Motoring Lawyers Online recently discovered that they have appeared in a staggering 187 Courts across the country representing clients facing all manner of motoring offences.

Steve Williams decided to tally up the Courts as he was curious to see just how many Courts the firm has appeared at, but was surprised by the results!

“It’s amazing to think we have helped people in so many different places around the country.  Each Court is different, and it’s been fascinating getting to visit so many.”

When asked whether he has a favourite Court, Steve said:

“I’d have to say Birmingham, for two reasons.  Firstly, it’s my home town so there’s a little loyalty there, but it is also the prettiest in my opinion.  It’s a beautiful building.”

 

You can contact us for representation in any court on 01623 397200.

 

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