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Legal Services Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 151CA: 151CA:Clause 185 , page 99, line 32, leave out ““the prescribed charity”” and insert ““one or more charities”” The noble Lord said: I shall speak also to Amendments Nos. 151CB and 151CC. These amendments concern payments in respect of pro bono representation. First, perhaps I may say how pleased I am to see the noble and learned Lord the Attorney-General, who will respond to the amendment, on the government Front Bench. I hasten to add that that is not because the noble Baroness is in any way incapable of responding. The noble and learned Lord is there because he has been intimately associated with the development of pro bono representation. I am extremely grateful to him for taking the trouble to be here. We welcome the thrust of Clause 185 and the initiative taken in the Bill to provide for costs to be ordered in pro bono cases. However, we are not convinced that the proposed order for costs should be made to a ““prescribed charity””. These amendments alter the Bill accordingly. That makes sense as a default position in the event that the successful parties do not nominate a charity; but there are a number of reasons why we believe that it would be appropriate to allow payment of cost orders to any charity that is registered under the Charities Act 1993. In most instances, pro bono cases will have been referred to law firms through not-for-profit organisations or charities. Charities will often assist with the case and liaise with the client. A discretion that would allow the client to nominate the charity which has helped him to benefit, rather than a prescribed national charity, would seem highly desirable. There is a real concern that prescribing the final destination of costs to a particular charity or organisation would dampen the enthusiasm of firms or individual lawyers to undertake pro bono work. Many solicitors and firms are particularly attracted to pro bono work because they can help their local community or a particular cause or sector of society. This identity with a particular cause or local community is an important consideration. With no such guarantee, there is a risk that this provision could damage pro bono work more generally. Finally, the creation of a new national charity to be the prescribed charity may well lead to increased administrative costs which would again reduce the overall benefit of the costs order. Funds which are generated through pro bono litigation currently go directly to the local beneficiaries rather than being fed through a national charity. Firms are concerned that this national charity will end up creating an extra bureaucratic layer, replacing the casual flexibility of a system where individual firms can nominate the charity that will benefit. There is also a widespread fear that proceeds that go to a prescribed charity are more likely to end up simply subsidising legal aid rather than reaching other causes. I beg to move.