Can Solicitor claim expenses?

[medsecslave]

The solicitor we had appointed to represent my son in court now says that on the day of his trial he won't personally represent him but will appoint an agent. My son has public funding but the solicitor says can't do it himself as he can't claim travel expenses - the trial is 40 miles away. It's a public order offence and I'm wondering if the solicitor can't be bothered? Is he right in stating he can't claim travel expenses, if so, should I offer to pay them? This all seems a total waste of time choosing a solicitor, going through all the motions only to find he won't be there on the day. Any advice greatly appreciated, thanks.

[fredpuli47]

It seems highly likely that he's right. The government has been cutting back on public funding, legal aid, for years. I did see a proposal that travel cost beyond 20 miles wouldn't be allowed at all in summary (magistrates' court trial) cases.If that was made a rule then he won't be travelling but will give the case to another lawyer who is local to the court. I expect a solicitor on this site can give chapter and verse on rates and rules. You can imagine that the government wouldn't be keen on having a solicitor charging say, 300 miles round trip to a town to do a simple case that could be easily done by a solicitor in that town, and making a profit in the process. They have to discourage non-local travel just to avoid wasting money and must set some limit. Even if there's no 20 mile rule you can bet they try to make non-local journeys very unattractive and unprofitable.

A solicitor or barrister is not allowed to take private payment for, or from, a client who is taking legal aid, a practice known as 'topping up'. Paying the solicitor's travel expenses would breach that rule.

[pedro888]

The service being provided by some duty solicitors is appalling, they bag the case at a police station appear good at first returning phone calls etc and then turn crap doing just enough to ensure you cannot switch or getting to a late stage so tuff, I bet if the solicitor had been asked about travel upon taking the case they would have said yes do not worry about the 40 miles, try and contact the top partner in the solicitors firm and complain, lay it right on the line, email phone and demand they represent your son explaining that you feel misled cheated, I bet they booked plently of extra time on the case in other areas just like the MPs... go for it your son will only get one chance it court. good luck

[medsecslave]

He is the senior partner the firm which is why I'm so cross that the case is going to be farmed out to someone we'll meet five minutes before going into Court. He may consider it a trivial case but I take it very seriously and don't want a junior solicitor representing him. The fact he's got legal aid probably means we're not in a position to complain and if we want a particular person, we should be paying!

[fredpuli47]

medsecslave, if you're concerned about a magistrates court case, you ought not to know what happens with Crown Court cases !.It is very common for counsel not to know what case they are doing the next day in the Crown Court and only see the brief (papers) for the first time on the day before the hearing; sometimes after 4pm on that day. That's because a) counsel can't predict, to the day, when their current case will finish.It may overrun and they then can't do the other case on the day b) a lot, most indeed, of cases are not given an exact fixed date for hearing long in advance but are put in a general list of cases which are to be heard in a certain period and may be called on on any day in that period , and on short notice. The result is that a lot of cases end up with counsel who was not originally instructed in that case. In the 'trade' these briefs are known as 'returns' A 'late return' is one that arrives with counsel late in the day before, one of the 4pm and later ones, and is particularly inconvenient for counsel, but they get used to preparing cases well into the evening, it happens so often.

[medsecslave]

Thanks Fredpuli for explaining how it works. In fact we met with the solicitor this week who said he wouldn't be allowed to take payment from me for expenses. When I asked if he could appoint a highly experienced 'agent' he said he'd try but it would be unlikely due to the nature of the offence. As we left I went to shake hands and he just stared at me then reluctantly did so. Is this not the 'done thing' with a criminal defence lawyer?

[pedro888]

sounds like a complete knob head, once this is all over for you by at least 2 months, request a copy of his legal aid claim, you son can apply for this under the data protection act, write down a record of the time he has spent with your son and at the police station and compare it, complete the same process for the one who reps your son in court, its bound to be a chum of your present lawyer and between them they will have a special handshake and just like the MPs they would have helped themselves. legal aid is a cash machine for these people and being legal's they do not expect to be questioned, sorry I know this does not help your son in the meantime, obviously he has remorse make sure he shows it , clearly he has a good father, good luck

[fredpuli47]

Well, he's got that wrong (refusing a handshake that is). Counsel don't shake hands with other counsel.It's an old tradition. Counsel shake hands with lay clients and sometimes with solicitors, if they offer. Never heard of solicitors not shaking hands with the lay client's father. How rude!

Good luck with the case, though.