Tories look to US model

LEGAL FUNDING: Conservatives consider statutory charge system

Radical US-style legal funding proposals could be included in the Conservatives' general election manifesto, the party's legal spokesman Nick Hawkins revealed this week.

Speaking at a Law Society fringe meeting on the Community Legal Service (CLS) at the Tory conference in Bournemouth, Mr Hawkins said he would not be surprised to see proposals for a 'statutory charge' system to replace civil legal aid funding.

Such a system would enable people to have their cases funded by the state on the proviso that the state takes a charge over their property or assets for the fees in the event of loss.

A charge currently only applies when a claimant succeeds.

He accused the government of 'moving ground on eligibility for legal aid'.

Mr Hawkins praised citizens' advice bureaux for their work in assisting the CLS, saying they were shouldering more work without taking on any extra resources.

He called for the government to provide more help for them.

Pledging that a future Tory government would not continue with the rhetoric of fat-cat lawyers, he accused the Lord Chancellor of being 'the biggest fat cat of them all' and 'a colossal hypocrite'.

Law Society President Michael Napier told the meeting that the government's refusal to invest in the CLS made a nonsense of its claim that it wanted to increase access to justice.

Jeremy Fleming