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| Issue #2, 22 September 2011 | www.liv.asn.au |
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Dear Member,
The Legal Aid Taskforce comprises members of the LIV Criminal and Family Law Sections, Victorian Bar, LIV President, CEO, and LIV Public Affairs and Policy Staff. The Taskforce meets monthly and will provide updates to members via this eNewsletter.
INCREASE TO ALL LEGAL AID FEES
On 8 September 2011 Victoria Legal Aid (VLA) announced that it is increasing all professional fees and disbursements by 10 per cent, effective 1 October 2011. VLA has also committed to indexing all fees and disbursements from 1 July each year.
In addition to the 10 per cent increase, brief fees for summary crime contested hearings in the Magistrates' Court and Children's Court will also increase from $470 to $700 for contests that proceed, and from $411 to $500 for contests that settle on the day of the contest.
The fee increases are in recognition of the valuable work undertaken by practitioners, changes to the way legal aid work is performed and the fact that fees have not increased for some time.
The Legal Aid Taskforce is naturally delighted with the VLA Board's decision. We are committed to working closely with VLA and the State and Federal Governments to ensure that legal aid funding is increased and stabilised in future budgets
For more information about the fee increases got to the VLA website.
BUDGET SUBMISSION TO GOVERNMENT
The Taskforce is developing a comprehensive submission to the State Government on the necessity of increased legal aid funding.
That submission will form part of a greater lobbying strategy, and will be published on the LIV and VicBar websites in due course.
FEE STRUCTURE REVIEW
The Taskforce will continue to work with VLA in relation to a simplified fee structure for summary crime, including funding for summary case conferences and complex bail grants.
JUSTICE IMPACT ASSESSMENTS
LIV President Caroline Counsel is meeting representatives from the Ministry of Justice (UK) and the Law Society of England and Wales on 4 October 2011, to discuss the benefits and challenges in relation to the Taskforce's Justice Impact Assessment proposal.
We will report the outcome of that meeting in a forthcoming newsletter.
ATLAS+ PROGRESS
VLA has worked hard to improve its communications to ATLAS+ users.
We urge practitioners to look at the ATLAS+ homepage for answers to specific ATLAS+ questions.
The website contains information about receiving payments and processing new applications for grants of aid, extensions and invoices, a more responsive helpdesk, training support, data entry tip of the week and templates
VLA / LIV RELATIONSHIP
Over the past year, the LIV and VLA have tried to open lines of communication and improve the relationship between the two organisations.
Criminal Law Section co-chairs Tim Gattuso and James Dowsley now conduct regular meetings with Saul Holt, Director of Criminal Law Services at VLA, to discuss areas of mutual interest and any areas of concern.
Operational members of LIV and VicBar staff also meet regularly with Rachna Muddagouni, Manager, Stakeholder Relationships, at VLA and Nella Buccheri, Manager, Legal Policy and Assignments, who have done an excellent job of addressing a number of operational matters as they have arisen. We would like to thank them for their continued commitment to improving the relationship between our organisations.
The Taskforce would also like to specifically thank Vince Caltabiano, Managing Lawyer of the Advocacy Team at VLA, for preparing and forwarding memorandums of advice on recent Court of Appeal cases. These have been gratefully received by the Criminal Law Section of the LIV.
WE'D LIKE TO HEAR FROM YOU!
As always, we would like to hear your thoughts.
Please email Gemma Hazmi on ghazmi@liv.asn.au with any comments, concerns, complaints or congratulations in relation to anything related to legal aid (State and Commonwealth), ATLAS+, fees etc.
CONOR O'BRIEN | CHAIR LEGAL AID TASKFORCE
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