A TYNWALD select committee looking at advocates’ case management practices wants to hear from members of the public who have encountered time wasting in civil proceedings.
Chairman of the committee John Houghton MHK said: ‘The committee would welcome summaries from members of the public regarding what they deem to be deliberate delays and deficiencies by advocates in the course of their handling of civil legal proceedings.
‘These are practices I believe regularly lead to years of wasted time, involve many hours of an advocate’s time and incur unnecessary additional costs.’
Mr Houghton said that, in particular, he was concerned about the level of fees charged by advocates in civil cases which are funded by legal aid.
He added: ‘I have no doubt legal aid regularly is squandered in this area (of case management).’
Against a background of protracted and costly legal proceedings experienced by a number of his constituents, Mr Houghton is calling for advocates’ case management practices to be conducted ‘in a more proactive and efficient way’ and, to this end, the select committee will be tasked to identify ‘the core reasons’ of his concerns.
The committee will not reopen any cases on their merits, but will focus solely on the process of the preparation of cases between issuing of proceedings and the date of the trial.
Submissions should be sent to the clerk of the committee by Wednesday, May 16. It will be assumed that respondents are content for their responses to be published.
Also sitting on the committee will be Brenda Cannell MHK and Tony Wild MLC.