Advantages And Disadvantages Of Conditional Fee Arrangements Law Essay

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Conditional Fee Arrangements Law Essay UK legal aid system has undergone tremendous changes and reforms ever since its introduction in 1949. Its purpose of the act was to provide legal advice for those of slender means and resource, so that no one will be financially unable to prosecute a trust and reasonable claim or defend a legal right and to allow solicitors and counsel to be remunerated.  [1]  Due to its popularity, legal aid expenditure imposed a heavy burden on the government. In solving this problem, the UK legal aid system undergone various reforms. Conditional Fee Arrangement (hereafter CFA) was a result of one of these reforms after half a decade when legal aid act created. Ever since its introduction in 1990, CFA has been a controversial topic among legal educators. In determining the success of the CFA system, it cannot be easily determined purely by its utility rate, but ethics issue must also looked into. The numerous pros and cons of the scheme opened the door for criticism and professor to criticize. The history of legal aid dates back to 1949. After Second World War, it was recognized that equality of access and the right to representation before the law was fundamental to a just society. Hence, the Rushcliffe Committee made a number of recommendations that led to the establishment of the first legal aid scheme by the Legal Aid and Legal Advice Act 1949. The purpose of the legal aid scheme, as Lord Steyn once said is a principle of our law that every citizen has a right of unimpeded access to a court.  [2]  Generally, the legal aid scheme was a success. It achieved its purpose in ensuring that the public obtains access to justice. However, from the view of the State, the scheme was imposing heavy burden on the government. It is worth to point out that legal aid funding is placed very low in the political agenda as generally it does not favor anyone as compared to medical and education funding. As a result, Lord Irvine suggested capping a ceiling on legal aid funding. Since c apping the budget for criminal legal aid is against human rights, the only choice will be to first cover all cost in Criminal legal aid and civil legal aid will be funded by the leftovers.  [3]  In view of this, Lord XXX introduced CFA in the Court and Legal Services Act in 1990. The CLSA Act provided a statutory basis for parties to litigation to enter into CFA for a limited number of proceedings. Not until the Conditional Fee Arrangement in 1995 that it was released to different types of proceedings including personal injury, bankruptcy, insolvency and human rights cases. In 1998, subsidiary legislation has greatly widened the range of proceedings where CFA are permissible to cover most of the civil cases except for those specified in the CLSA act, which are mostly related to crime and family legislation. Today, majority of personal injury cases are funded by CFA under the amendment of Access to Justice Act 1999. CFA is an alternative to legal aid. It enables those without the necessary resources or with risk averse tendencies to take forward claims for compensation. It is an agreement whereby a lawyer and a client can agree to share the risk of the litigation by coming to a financial arrangement on the fee payable based on the outcome of the litigation. In the event of losing, the client will not be liable to pay any fee to their lawyer, but if the case is won, normal cost are payable. Although the client is required to pay the fee when winning the case, but it may be recoverable in full or in part from the losing party. Unlike Contingency Fee Arrangement, which is common in USA, CFA does not allow solicitor to claim a percentage of the winning. Instead, lawyers are allowed to charge the usual rate plus uplift if the case is successful. Conditional fee arrangements developed as a result of the proposed reduction in public funding for civil litigation and the fear that the abolition of legal aid would reduce access to justice for many. Access to justice is when people do need help, there are effective solutions that are proportionate to the issues at stake. In some circumstances, this will involve going to court; but in others, that will not be necessary. Someone charged with a criminal offence should have access to proper legal advice and representation, when the interests of justice require it. But in civil matters, for most people, most of the time, going to court is, and should be, the last resort. It is in no-ones interest to create a litigious society. People must make responsible choices about whether a case is worth pursuing; whether to proceed by negotiation, court action, or in some other way; and how far to take a relatively minor issue. This is one of the major advantages, which is also the purpose, of CFA and the legal aid system. A conditional fee agreement is therefore a very useful method of funding litigation as in many cases the prospective litigant may not have the financial resources to fund the case and may not qualify for legal aid. It is particularly important in personal injury cases as these claims cannot be funded by legal aid and as such many litigants would not have had legal redress owing to the lack of funding. Given the high cost of litigation in Hong Kong, those in the middle-income group whose means are above the limits set down by the Legal Aid Scheme and the Supplementary Legal Aid Scheme would have difficulty financing litigation. The second advantages of CFA is that it could reduce the cost of legal aid funding and that it could refocus legal aid by removing cases which can be financed in some other way and promoting access to justice for the need by directing the aid budget to priority areas. This will allow the Government ultimately to concentrate publicly funded support on legal services towards helping people secure their basic rights such as a decent home, appropriate social security benefits and challenging officialdom through judicial review, and towards assisting cases that raise issues of wider public interest. The present system does not allow the Government to do this. It allows no assessment of the importance of classes of cases or any way of targeting help towards priority needs. The government simply pays for the amount and type of legal services that lawyers wish to provide. The reduction of legal aid fund of removing all personal injury cases to CFA was significant. The third advantage of CFA is that weak cases will be weeded out. frivolous claim Because the solicitor is taking the risk of the charge, they will for sure assess the chance of success of each case before they accept it. This way, all weak cases will be weeded out. Also, under the CFA scheme, litigant are required to disclose to the other party. Disclosure of a CFA to the other party may encourage earlier settlement because the other partys cost exposure will increase in line with the level of the success fee. Although there are significant contribution, CFA also brings up lots of problems. . Traditionally, solicitors were restricted to change on a conditional or contingent basis. They have been restricted by case law, statutes and practice rules. The two main common law principles related to this are Maintenance and Champerty. Maintenance is where someone who is not a party to the action and has no interest in it, funds or otherwise supports one of the litigants. Such an agreement was generally held by the courts to be void for reasons of public policy and was also grounds for making an order for cost against a non-party funder. In entering CFA, lawyers may tend to put their duty to the court second to their desire to secure a win to guarantee fee, which may lead to suborning evidence, coaching witness, failing to give discovery of documents. This restricted the ability of solicitors to act either contingently and conditionally as they risked significant cost liability. A CFA gives the lawyer a financial interest in the litigation and he therefore takes control of the st rategy and resolution of the litigation. As Lord Denning once mentioned, in Re Trepca Mines Ltd. (No.2) 1963 CA, if legal advisors had a personal interest in the outcome of litigation they might be tempted to influence the damages, to suppress evidence or even to suborn witness Champerty is an aspect of maintenance where the third party not only supports a litigant but also takes a share of the damages awarded, e.g. contingent fee arrangement and success fee. Champerty has been held to be contrary to public policy and thus champerty agreement is void. Last but not least, Claimants may not be able to find a solicitor whos willing to take risk. Even if the case is strong, some solicitors may demand an unreasonably high chance of success to take the case. The decision in Calley v Gray and Halloran V Delaney have made solicitors less willing to take on the risk of CSA when success have been pegged at 20%. Further confusion has occurred after later decision of Sanwar V Alan and Designers Guild v Russell Williams, where the court allowed a claim of 100% success fee and justified it with the recognition that solicitor has taken a substantial risk in entering into CFA.

Frederick Douglass Essay examples -- Biography Biographies Bio

In Frederick Douglass' autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, he writes about the inhumanity and brutality of slavery, with the intention of informing white, American colonists. Douglass is thought to be one of the greatest leaders of the abolition, which radically and dramatically changed the American way of life, thus revolutionizing America. Douglass changed America, and accomplished this through writing simply and to the point about the "reality" of slavery, told through the point of view of a slave. In a preface of Douglass' autobiography, William Lloyd Garrison writes, "I am confident that it is essentially true in all its statements; that nothing has been set down in malice, nothing exaggerated, nothing drawn from the imagination; that it comes short of reality, rather than overstates a single fact in regard to slavery as it is" (Douglass, 6). This statement authenticates and guarantees Douglass' words being nothing but the truth. Douglass' enslaved life was not an accurate representation of the common and assumed life of a slave. He, actually, often wished that he was not so different and had the same painful, but simpler ignorance that the other slaves had. It was his difference, his striving to learn and be free that made his life so complicated and made him struggle so indefinitely. Douglass expresses this in writing, "I envied my fellow-slaves for their stupidity. I have often wished myself a beastÂ…It was this everlasting thinking of my condition that tormented me" (Douglass, 53). In his narrative, Douglass does generalize to relate his experience to that of other slaves, creating a parallel between his life and the life of any other slave. He writes about the brutality, physi... ...edge. In his narrative, Douglass layers the many brutal, cruel, inhumane, and true components of slavery in his life, underlying each story with a political motive and relation. This method of writing was for his audience removed from slavery, those ignorant of slavery, uninformed, misunderstood, and those who were fortunate to have freedom. Douglass illustrates living conditions, experiences, tragedies, and struggles to great depths. Everywhere, African Americans escaped the binds of slavery due to Frederick Douglass' determination. He revolutionized America, being one of the greatest leaders of the abolition, being the reason for so many freed lives, and leading to the complete abolition and illegality of slavery in America. Works Cited Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave. Boston: The Anti-Slavery Office, 1845.

Which Is Better, True Belief and Knowledge?

In Meno, Socrates and Meno have a discussion on virtue and they encounter a problem. If virtue is teachable, it must be knowledge. However, since there are no teachers and students of virtue, virtue must not be taught. So they think that virtue is not knowledge. And then they start the discussion on what is true belief and knowledge. In this essay, I would evaluate Socrates’s explanation on why knowledge is better than mere true belief and the reasons that I agree with Socrates’s proposition. Socrates’s explanation To begin with, Socrates first questions whether true belief is something no less useful than knowledge.Socrates notes that true belief and knowledge guide to the true action. He illustrates the idea by an example. To clarify Socrates’s example, I will apply his example on our campus. Suppose I need to guide a friend to Chong Yuet Ming Physics Building. I have no idea where it locate and I haven’t been to there. Now, I can visit the buildi ng if someone with the knowledge of the path guides me there or I have the knowledge of the path. But a true belief, which may be the intuition, perception, will also be equally effective in reaching the destination.If my belief is that the destination is northwest of the main building, and I convince my friend to the destination. From an outside observer, he cannot distinguish whether I have the knowledge of the path or I just luckily arrive there according to my true belief. Socrates states that â€Å"correct opinion (true belief) is no less useful than knowledge† because no matter which proposition, either true belief or knowledge, someone’s action still can be guided correctly. Although I do not agree this statement, I will discuss it in later paragraph. So, what makes the different between true belief and knowledge?Socrates thinks that the difference between them is the justification, which is the reasoning or the rationale for your belief. The person with knowled ge has the ability to account of the why behind the truth whereas the person with mere true belief knows only the truth. If someone has knowledge, then he has the ability to account for the action and his mind retains knowledge. It will be secured for future use. However, although true belief guide you to a right action, the belief will go away from you mind easily. Socrates proposes that if one does not tie the true beliefs down, they will run away and escape.If tied, true beliefs stay where they are put. Moreover, once they are tied down, they become knowledge. True beliefs are grasped by the mind only fleeting before they are corrupted or lost. But we can tether them by working out the reason. If we has the reason for the believe, then the true belief is justified and become knowledge. Evaluation for Socrates explanation Firstly, I would like to discuss about Socrates’s proposition that knowledge and true belief always guide to the right action. I shall argue that it would be better that true belief guides to the right action in a better way than knowledge guides.I believe that knowledge does not always guide to the destination. For example, I have knowledge of only one path to Chong Yuet Ming Physics Building. According to the knowledge, I walk along the path. It is not guaranteed I can arrive the building. Maybe murdered happened and police has blocked the road for investigation. Maybe the path that in your mind is not up-to-date and that particular path now leads you to another building, say Ming Wah Building. In this case, even you have knowledge of going to the building, you cannot go there. True beliefs, however, always guide you to the right action.As long as we have true beliefs, we always can be guided correctly. For example, as long as I am lucky enough, I can visit Chong Yuet Ming Building even there is only one path to the building. Through, I still agree that knowledge is better the mere true belief. People cannot lucky all the life in r eality. That means we cannot solve all problem by our belief. We need knowledge to live. For ideal case, an ignorant housewife can invest her money by merely her belief and win the market all time. However, does it happen in the reality? Even it happens, there are just very little cases.Without knowledge, it is difficult to live in the world. Comparing a ignorant housewife and a professional experienced investor investing the stock market, they may both lose money. For the investor, he may be wrong in some decision and lose money. But if he could have a lesson from that, he may gain and revise his knowledge of the stock market. Next time, he may keep doing this in a row. Finally, the probability to earn money increases. For the ignorant housewife, if she do not learn from the fault, or tie down the true belief, the probability of earning money would not increase.Therefore, if someone learn from the fault and form a better knowledge on that field, it will be better to him because the probability of doing the right action increases. In addition, we should not focus too much on the result too much. If we just focus on whether one finally achieve destination only, it may suggest that result is the ONLY thing we should take consideration. If that is the case, then we may agree that people can earn money by kidnapping, stealing or robbering. But we shall agree that earning money by such process is not accepted.Then, I think that achieving the goal by some process may not be good even the goal can be achieved. Hence, we should also consider the process which guides to the destination or result, but not just merely the result. I think that why knowledge is better than true belief is that the process of the right action who is guided by knowledge is better than that who is guided by true belief. Looking back to the example, what is the difference between someone guided knowledge and guided by true belief if they both arrive the destination is the experience and the var iation of the path.Consider a person with merely true belief, he may make decision by something like I should go this way and I hope the way is not dead-ended. Why I have been walking so long time and haven’t arrived yet? Did I made some wrong decision? When can I arrive? I have no idea how to go there, and etc. Although he finally arrive the building, he had hard feeling at all. He may feel depressed, anxious, doubtful, and uncertain. Also, there is lots of variation for the paths. He may walk a very long path to the destination. For example, someone take a bus to somewhere.He believes that he need to get off the bus at the 3rd stop and walk along the road. However, the best way is to get off the bus at the 7th stop. He leaves the bus 2 stops earlier. Although he has true belief and arrive the destination, it may not good to him because he has been walked a very long and unnecessary way. Knowledge, on the other hand, guides someone with appropriate process. If someone with k nowledge, says he know the map of campus in the example, can effectively arrive the destination without anxious, doubtful feelings.Someone may argue that having knowledge may not arrive the destination effectively because you may only have knowledge of a circuitous path. I shall say that it may be the case, just similar as true belief. People having true belief may or may not arrive destination effectively, so as people having knowledge. But at least the person may not have hard feelings, which already make knowledge better than true belief. Though there is some argument which I think is not correct in Socrates’s explanation, there are still lots of evidence to show that knowledge is better than mere true belief.

Mandatory Drug Testing For Welfare Recipients - 1526 Words

Breez Arann Ms. Holiday English 12 11/04/15 Mandatory Drug Testing for Welfare Recipients When the United States’ welfare program was created during the Great Depression, it was meant to temporarily relieve the burdens of the one-fourth of American families who were unemployed, and struggling financially. President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Social Security Act in 1935, then amended it in 1939 to create programs to assist families with unemployment compensation, and to create government agencies to oversee these programs, including Health and Human Services. The purpose of the welfare program was to provide short-term assistance to families in need while they got back on their feet, and found new employment. It was and is still funded by the hard-earned money of American taxpayers. Since that time, government assistance programs have progressed to the point of serving 49.2 percent of the population according to 2011 statistics, released in 2014.7 Of those receiving benefits, approximately 20 percent have been on the program for over five years. These fac ts go against the initial purpose of the welfare program as a temporary crutch. Studies have shown that about 20 percent of welfare recipients have tested for, or reported illicit drug use (although, those numbers vary and can be higher, based on the testing method used). Taxpayers should be aware that their taxes are funding these drug users’ illegal lifestyles. Therefore, drug testing should be a mandatoryShow MoreRelatedMandatory Drug Testing For Welfare Recipients1613 Words   |  7 Pagestime-welfare reform. New screening processes, often considered a direct violation of constitutional rights, have already been enacted in many states. Strong evidence exists, asserting that the practice of administering drug testing to welfare recipients will cost the U.S. taxpayers more money in the long run, stigmatize applicants and participants, and serve only the purpose of making the pharmaceutical companies more powerful. In order to protect the constitutional rights of potenti al welfare recipientsRead More Mandatory Drug Testing For Welfare Recipients Essay1341 Words   |  6 PagesThe process of drug testing individuals who are applying or receiving welfare benefits has recently become the focus of a widely spread controversy. Florida, the first state to pass the law, now requires all individuals applying for public assistance to undergo drug testing. The state of Kentucky, among others, have considered following this trend. State lawmakers hope to prevent the squandering of taxpayer dollars on drugs by proposing similar guidelines. Alabama’s states representative Kerry RichRead MoreMandatory Drug Testing for Welfare Recipients and Public Assistance2064 Words   |  9 Pagestime again. The main topic of tax money is the use of assistance money and are the recipients really using the money for the right reasons. There are many problems with the assistance program but the one that comes to mind the most is that many people abuse the money given t o buy the essentials and provide, for their family for illegal drugs. The solution that many state representatives have come up with is drug testing as a requirement for assistance. This will eliminate the abuse of the assistanceRead MoreMandatory Drug Testing Should Be Banned1365 Words   |  6 PagesIntroduction Mandatory drug testing has been and ongoing controversial issue over the most recent years. Mandatory drug testing has been subjected to students, athletes, and employees all over the country. However a lot of speculation has been made whether or not welfare recipients in particular should be subjected to mandatory drug testing. According to Besonen, programs such as welfare were created in the 1930s to temporarily aid struggling Americans to help get them back up on their feet. (BesonenRead MoreDrug Testing : A Controversial Issue Right Now1439 Words   |  6 PagesRUNNING HEAD: Mandatorily Drug Testing Welfare Recipients Does More Harm Than Good Mandatorily Drug Testing Welfare Recipients Does More Harm Than Good Clare M. Pitlik Marist High School Author Note First paragraph: Introduction to history of drug testing welfare recipients Second paragraph: Explains why drug testing welfare recipients is unconstitutional Third paragraph: Explains why drug testing welfare recipients is costly Fourth paragraph: Rebuttals Fifth paragraph:Read MoreWelfare Reform : Social Welfare Policy1257 Words   |  6 Pages Social Welfare Policy Social Welfare Policy Analysis Eric Dean University of Arkansas Introduction Several states have recently begun to enact legislation that requires welfare recipients to submit to drug tests before they are eligible to receive any public assistance. The purpose of mandatory drug testing is to prevent the potential abuse of taxpayer money, help individuals with drug problems, and ensure that public money is not subsidizing drug habits (Wincup, 2014). WhileRead MoreWelfare Drug Testing Persuasive Speech1704 Words   |  7 PagesIntroduction a.i) Government assistance, or welfare, is a very broad term. There are many different welfare programs available in the United States e.g., food stamps, cash assistance, and government housing. Currently there is mass debate, in courtrooms across the U.S., regarding the legality and morality of pre-assistance drug testing. This report is intended to familiarize the reader with the history of welfare reform; the histories of drug testing in regards to assistance eligibility; and persuadeRead MoreDrug Testing Essay1200 Words   |  5 PagesThere is a big question floating in the air around a lot of people today, â€Å"Is drug testing the welfare constitutional or not?† When dealing with this we come to many road blocks. We should know and understand the difference in a drug use problem and a psychiatric disorder. Also understanding the difference in substance abuse and substance dependence. Confusing the two could be an issue. When you decide to drug test the welfare there is much more that needs to go into it than just the test to determineRead MoreShould Drug Testing Welfare Recipients? Essay1707 Words   |  7 Pagesuse of drugs is an immense problem in today’s society. The big question is, is it a problem within the welfare system? Drug use isn’t just a problem of poverty; it’s found among all groups and classes. As said in Jamelle Bouies article, The Myth of Drug Use and Welfare, â€Å"The myth of welfare recipients spending their benefits on drugs is just that—a myth. And indeed, in Utah, only 12 people out of 466—or 2.5 percent—showed evidence of drug use after a mandatory screening.† Drug te sting welfare recipientsRead MoreWelfare Drug Testing Should Not Be Allowed1416 Words   |  6 PagesAmericans on welfare, and the U.S spending over 131 billion on welfare annually, not including food stamps. People have been looking for a way to cut the costs of welfare for many years. And then Welfare drug testing was proposed. At initial thought it seemed like a grand idea and a great way to cut costs and to eliminate all the drug users in the system, and because of that welfare drug testing has been put into action in 13 states. But, welfare drug testing is completely ineffective. Welfare drug testing