Lawyers accused of wasting time for financial benefit

Anti-social orders: report suggests a fixed sum per case

Solicitors defending people facing anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs) were this week accused of 'abusing the system for their own ends'.

A Home Office research report on the progress of ASBOs in the three years since their inception claimed that solicitors 'were trying to drag the process out in order to milk as much money as possible out of the process'.

Solicitors were also accused of introducing the 'tactics of criminal courts' into the civil hearings, resulting in them becoming 'much more confrontational and adversarial than was originally envisaged'.

To combat this, the report concluded that legal assistance should be given in such cases on 'a fixed sum of aid per case, rather than by time'.

A Law Society spokeswoman said: 'A solicitor's job is to represent the client.

It is unrealistic to expect hearings about ASBOs to be consensual when the consequences for the individuals made subject to the orders can be severe.'

Rodney Warren, chairman of the Criminal Law Solicitors Association, said: 'I am alarmed at the assertions about the way solicitors go about their work, or the motives they have for doing it.

I challenge the Home Office to present direct evidence to back up what is being said.'

The report found that 466 orders were issued between April 1999 and March 2001, each costing the taxpayer 5,350.

In a sample group of individuals given ASBOs, 36% re-offended within three months - giving rise to criminal proceedings and penalties.

Mr Warren said: 'I fail to see why the government continues to have such enthusiasm for them, when they are blatantly not working.'

Andrew Towler