A body set up to come up with reforms for legal aid is considering the first draft of its interim report.
It aims to start a public consultation about them early next year.
The Legal Aid Committee was re-convened in 2013 as a result of the Legal Aid Amendment Act 2012.
Last year the committee invited anyone with experience of the current legal aid system to let it know whether they believe there could be refinements, new alternative solutions, or indeed where they felt the system is working well.
It particularly requested comments regarding the ability of the current system to provide: fairness and equity in access to justice; effective use of limited resources and value for money; transparency, simplicity and efficiency; professionalism and continuous quality improvement in practice; and a service shaped around the needs of its customers, clients, and users.
It had been 14 years since the last fundamental review of how legal representation is provided to poorer members of Manx society.
The committee prioritised a number of the ‘easy win’ suggestions and these have now been implemented, such as: production of a ‘legal aid handbook’, giving detailed guidance to advocates on the operation of the scheme, and consolidating the ‘panel letters’ into an easily accessible document; formal guidelines and set fees for mediation, with standard application forms; phased introduction of time and cost specific legal aid certificates; scheme of delegation from the legal aid certifying officer to officers in respect of certain emergency matters; revised reporting and performance management for the legal aid certifying officers.
How do you think legal aid could be improved?
Write to Opinions, Manx Independent, Peel Road, Douglas IM1 5ED