CSLS Researchers Respond to Ministry of Justice Consultation on ILCA Scheme
Linda Mulcahy and Matthew Nesvet at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies have recently responded to a Ministry of Justice consultation about the introduction of an ‘Interest on Lawyer Client Account’ (ILCA) scheme in England and Wales. Linda and Matthew are being funded by the Nuffield Foundation for two years to look into this opyion, and other forms of additional funding streams, for the free legal advice sector. In their response to the consultation, they draw particular attention to the fact that:
- Ministry of Justice proposals not to ringfence the funds raised in this way would make England and Wales an international outlier. ILCA programmes across the world commonly dedicate the funds to access to justice initiatives. They argue that there is a danger that these funds will be used to subsidise criminal justice initiatives rather than being ploughed back into the civil justice system where they are generated.
- When looking for a model on which to base the English and Welsh scheme, more attention needs to be paid to the variety of factors which promote the generation of healthy balances for the scheme. In particular, they argue that the ‘safe harbour’ arrangement with banks, which is common practice in Canada, could be more successful than the ‘comparability rule’ approach which the Ministry seems to favour.
- The Ministry of Justice is proposing that it should run the scheme but it is unusual for a government department to be so closely involved in collecting and distributing funds. Their response draws attention to a number of dangers in the organisation running a scheme being so close to the political domain.