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Legal aid reform︱Liang Jiajie worries about the interests of the defendant in the social movement case

2021-10-25T02:25:19.327Z


The government recently proposed to amend the legal aid system. Documents submitted by the Legal Aid Department to the Legislative Council show that legal aid applicants for future criminal cases will normally be assigned lawyers by the Legal Aid Department; for other judicial reviews and civil cases,


The government recently proposed to amend the legal aid system. Documents submitted by the Legal Aid Department to the Legislative Council show that legal aid applicants in future criminal cases will normally be assigned lawyers by the Legal Aid Department; other judicial reviews and civil cases will further restrict each applicant. The maximum number of legal aid cases that a lawyer can receive each year.

The chairman of the Civic Party and former chairman of the Bar Association, Leung Jiajie, told the media earlier that once the legal aid system for criminal cases is revised, the Legal Aid Department may appoint pro-organized lawyers to defendants in social movement-related cases, which will affect the outcome of the case.


Senior Counsel Tang Jiahua, a member of the Executive Council, today (25th) morning criticized on a TV program in Hong Kong and Taiwan. This statement is equivalent to assuming that the Legal Aid Department "has the heart to cook you to death" and reprimanding Liang Jiajie for "serving the belly of a gentleman with the heart of a villain."


Call on Liang Jiajie to provide more evidence

According to government recommendations, in civil and judicial review cases, the maximum number of civil legal aid cases that barristers can receive per year will be reduced from 20 to 15; solicitors will be reduced from 35 to 30.

The current limit has actually been reduced in 2018. The previous limit for barristers and lawyers was 25 and 45 cases.

The limit for judicial review cases is newly set. In the future, each barrister can receive a maximum of 3 legal aid cases per year, and solicitors can receive a maximum of 5 cases.

Tang Jiahua believes that there have indeed been some high levels of concentration in the past, and the new proposal can make the case more equitable to different lawyers.

He also pointed out that if individual lawyers are really incompetent in court cases, he has heard that under certain circumstances, the judge will propose that the Legal Aid Department will also deal with it according to the general procedures to decide whether to replace the person; the Legal Aid Department itself Different lawyers will be assigned according to the complexity of the case.

He also pointed out that anyone's right to hire a lawyer also needs to be "appropriately balanced." Legal aid always involves public money.

Regarding Liang Jiajie pointed out to Ming Pao that in the future, if the defendant in a criminal case cannot choose to represent a lawyer, the Legal Aid Department may deliberately arrange a pro-organized lawyer to affect the outcome of the case.

Tang Jiahua retorted: "This accusation is a bit excessive. I'm sorry. It is assumed that the Legal Aid Department has a malicious intention to kill you. I don't believe this will happen. I hope Barrister Liang can make a strong case. The evidence shows that these speculations are reasonable. All the lawyers I know are fair, fairly neutral, and professional in handling legal aid issues. They are definitely not like some people say that they want to be crooked because of their political stance. I I feel that you must not save the belly of a gentleman with the heart of a villain."

In response to the enquiry of the "Hong Kong 01" reporter, Leung Ka-kit reiterated that the purpose of the legal aid system is to ensure that the legal rights enjoyed by Hong Kong people will not be hindered due to lack of financial capacity within the scope of public funds, and to prevent people from using economic means to hinder the exercise of these rights. right.

Practicing lawyer Huang Heming.

(Profile picture)

Huang Heming: Legal aid is not CSSA, not just one case after another

Practicing lawyer Huang Heming pointed out that, first of all, there is no "high concentration" problem in the figures. Second, judicial review itself is a relatively unpopular type of litigation in the legal profession. Not many lawyers will do it or are willing to do it. It may come and go to gather a few lawyers to be familiar with this category."

He pointed out that if the Legal Aid Department hopes that more lawyers can come into contact with different types of cases, the original intention is worthy of recognition, but he is concerned about whether the threshold will be lowered accordingly when appointing lawyers in the future, because there are not many lawyers who will do judicial review cases. The threshold will not be lowered, and the supply may be in short supply in the future.

In addition, Huang Heming mentioned that "legal aid" is different from "CSSA". Not all lawyers "one person takes one order" are fair. The most important thing is that the aided person will not be affected by the lack of money and the quality of legal services; At the legal level, mutual trust between the client and the lawyer is also very important. "The same sentence, said by a trusted lawyer, and a completely unfamiliar lawyer, may be very different for the client."

Huang pointed out that sometimes the client has sought preliminary legal advice from a familiar lawyer in the early stage of the case. When he goes to court, he will naturally want to find the same lawyer. Because the other party is already familiar with the case, this does not involve additional public funds, so I don’t understand why it shouldn’t. Nominate an attorney yourself.

He also asked why the arrangement of nominating a lawyer is only for criminal cases.

Legal aid criminal case proposes to ban self-selected lawyers. Government’s opinion: Some lawyers encourage to be hired for Legislative Council elections after review. Tang Jiahua: Traditional Democrats abandon the election, the third route is wider and the idea of ​​not electing is shameful

01News

Source: hk1

All news articles on 2021-10-25

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