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Wednesday 9 July 2008

Gutting the legal system

Tim Worstall flags up just how ludicrous this story is. 

Here's the story:

A convicted drugs criminal has escaped an order to have up to £4.5 million of his assets confiscated because no legal aid barrister would take on the case.

More than 30 barristers from London, Leeds and Sheffield were approached to represent the offender, but refused because they felt the new fixed-rate legal aid fees of £175.25 per day does not justify the complex workload that would be involved.

[I]n their mad urge to gut the legal system (one of the things that only government can do and therefore must do) to save money to be spent on outreach workers (something that others than government can do and thus government need not do) they entirely screw themselves: for the lack of a few hundred pounds a day they lose the £1.5 million they were chasing.

Then there’s the funny leading to rage bit:

The offender, who has served a nine-month sentence for two drugs convictions, could not pay for the legal fees himself because his assets had been frozen.

Yup, you’re not allowed to use your own money to fund your own defense. Because the burden of proof is reversed here: they say it all came from drugs and it’s up to you to prove it isn’t. But since the assumptions is that it is indeed all drug money, you can’t use that to employ your own lawyers.

...And guess what children? They’re about to make it worse. The next stage of the law, currently being railroaded through Parliament, is that the confiscation of presumed to be drug related assets will take place upon arrest. Yes, really, upon arrest on drugs charges they will be able to take all of your money. So in the future you won’t even be able to use your own money to defend yourself on the criminal charges to do with drugs in the first place.

Now that’s really gutting the legal system, don’t you think? A deliberate method of negating your opportunity to employ a lawyer of your choice.

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