LAWYERS’ CASEBOOK

BBC1 Wales

Wednesdays, 10.40pm

Roy Morgan, partner at the four-branch Cardiff-based law firm, Morgans, was worried that a new fly-on-the-wall documentary shadowing his practice, broadcast last week, would be trounced in the ratings by US drama Lost, which aired at the same time.

Lost concerns plane crash survivors who are stranded on a desert island and left to battle the elements. However, Lawyers’ Casebook, which is aimed at exposing the day-to-day (or night-to-night in many cases) experiences of Wales’s leading legal aid firm, suggests that solicitors might understandably prefer to escape to faraway shores.


The five-part series kicked off on BBC Wales last Wednesday. Two-partner Morgans has 18 lawyers and some 5,000 cases on the go at any one time, covering situations ranging from criminal offences to debt and housing problems.


Mr Morgan, who is also chairman of the Legal Aid Practitioners Group, said his main aim was to dispel myths about ‘fat cat’ legal aid solicitors. ‘I think viewers will be surprised at the amount and range of work we do, day in, day out,’ he says. ‘The programme will give them the chance to see real people dealing with real life.’


It seems that Mr Morgan’s wishes may come true; the BBC shadowed the firm for six months and came to the conclusion that publicly funded work is ‘neither glamorous nor well paid’. It tackles the subject sympathetically and sensitively, highlighting the fact that legal aid solicitors are committed to struggling with the most vulnerable people in society, even if it means working 21-hour shifts and getting up several times in the night to go to police stations.


Mr Morgan himself is filmed at one point in his pyjamas on the telephone to a client in the early hours of the morning: ‘Only about 12 and a half hours to go,’ he sighs.


The series could be compared to the BBC’s previous project No Win, No Fee, which was based on a similar concept, with a camera crew following Manchester personal injury firm Amelans. However, Lawyers’ Casebook differs in that it seems to be aiming less for entertainment value. Unlike No Win, No Fee, there is hardly any comedy, it lacks the loud ska music and is more hard hitting, mainly because it is the clients – rather than the lawyers – who are the stars of the show.


Clients featuring in the series included Debbie, who was stabbed by her partner Matt as the ultimate act in a relationship scarred by domestic violence, but she still wanted to marry him and keep him out of jail. Matt was eventually sentenced to 33 months in prison.


Single mother Jackie was £20,000 in debt, having given her boyfriend money to buy a convertible BMW because he felt depressed; he went on to sell the car and gamble away the proceeds. Then there was Suzanne, also in debt because she loaned a friend £35,000 to invest in his business. She never saw a penny back and lost hope after he was featured on the front page of the local newspaper when he was arrested for possessing heroin.


Mr Morgan is adamant that all clients deserve the best legal advice possible. He took the opportunity to argue against plans to infringe on the right to jury trial and says: ‘It isn’t my job to decide whether clients are guilty or innocent. That's why there is a jury and a bench of magistrates. My role is to represent the client in the best way possible.' The programme also makes it clear that law firms are businesses and shows Mr Morgan quibbling with the Legal Services Commission over bills, hosting a team-building exercise aimed at maximising profits and urging his staff to submit interim accounts.


However, there are moments in the programme that could make even the most sympathetic legal aid supporter join the likes of the Daily Mail brigade. Morgans client Steven was facing court for his tenth driving offence; he had no driving licence, insurance or tax. Long-suffering assistant Nathan Jones, Steven’s regular solicitor, was called out to the police station a couple of days before the scheduled hearing because his intoxicated client drove into town and assaulted a police officer.


But despite the solicitor’s best efforts, Steven considered that he had taken too long to arrive, and when he did turn up ‘he gave me attitude’. Mr Jones was later left hanging around in the rain outside the courtroom while Steven was filmed at home ordering his ‘miserable slag’ of a girlfriend to ‘roll me a spliff’.


Steven was eventually spared jail, but was furious when the court imposed a curfew as he said it would scupper his chances of coming off the dole. ‘Nathan is a tidy guy,’ he said, but lamented: ‘I’m trying to get gainful employment and this is all the f***ing thanks I get.’


The programme well illustrates that legal aid work can be a difficult vocation that is under threat. ‘Legal aid is expensive to provide, costing about £2 billion annually, but that is what benefits cheats steal within a year,‘ the voiceover noted. He also echoed what many legal aid firms are becoming increasingly worried about, saying, ‘The commitment of the next generation of legal aid lawyers is crucial to its survival.’


Lawyers’ Casebook is unlikely to serve as an advertisement for potential new recruits illustrating long and unsociable hours and low pay – but it might at least inform the public that legal aid solicitors face a difficult job and work hard for every penny they get.