Consultation Response: Remunerating Exceptional Circumstances in the Crown Court

​The Department of Justice issued a targeted four week consultation in September 2015 on remunerating exceptional circumstances in the Crown Court. Legal representatives appearing for defendants in the Crown Court are remunerated in accordance with the provisions of the Legal Aid for Crown Court Proceedings (Costs) Rules (Northern Ireland) 2005, as amended.

This DOJ consultation brings forward proposals to provide remuneration outside the standard fee regime for a limited number of exceptional cases in which circumstances come together meaning that the standard fee regime alone cannot provide appropriate remuneration for the work involved in providing representation. The Bar Council’s full response to the consultation can be read here. This highlights that provision for exceptional circumstances can only represent fair remuneration if the fees for standard cases constitute fair remuneration as any proposed scheme for exceptionality must be looked at through the prism of the overall current fee structures.

Read the Bar’s subsequent submission to the DOJ consultation issued in December 2015 on the draft amendment rules and ministerial guidance relating to these policy proposals.