Legal Services Commission Publishes Legal Aid Payments

Tue, 02 Jun 2009

New figures from the Legal Services Commission (LSC) have revealed that nine solicitors firms in Tyrone shared £5 million in legal aid payments over a two year period. The figures are contained in a document revealing the 100 highest publicly funded payments to barristers and solicitors practices throughout Northern Ireland for the 2006/07 and 2007/08 financial years. One firm collected more than £1 million in a single year.

Legal aid payments topped £7 million in 2007/08, £2.9 million of which was spread between the nine solicitors firms in Tyrone. Overall, Belfast’s Kevin Winters and Company law firm were the highest earning legal aid practice for the fourth consecutive year in 2007/08. Their success in securing acquittals in the Northern Bank robbery and Omagh bomb trials contributed heavily to their earnings.

The LSC said the publication of the document was ‘part of its continued commitment to the key principals of openness and transparency’. Chair of the Northern Ireland Legal Services Commission, Jim Daniell, commented, ‘I wish to point out that the amounts paid to each barrister and solicitor's practice listed may represent payments for work covering a number of years and for a variety of cases. It is therefore important to bear in mind that the amounts received year-on-year can fluctuate widely.’
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