A new legislative provision that took effect on 1 October means that the UK’s Supreme Court will now be able to make costs orders favouring a charity which funds pro bono representation. In cases where the winning party was represented pro bono, section 61 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 enables the Supreme Court (in cases from England and Wales) to make an order favouring the Access to Justice Foundation.
The Access to Justice Foundation is a charity that was established by the legal profession to receive and distribute additional financial resources to help people that need free legal representation.
Until this law change it was not technically possible for the Supreme Court to make such an order. This meant that because a successful applicant represented pro bono technically had no costs, the Court couldn’t order the losing party to make any financial contribution. This development brings the Supreme Court in line with other civil courts in England & Wales, but only applies to new Supreme Court cases from 1 October.
Barrister Lord Pannick QC of London’s Blackstone Chambers said about the amendment: “When [a] pro bono lawyer succeeds for the claimant or the defendant, the unsuccessful other party cannot be ordered to pay the costs of the proceedings because the successful litigant has no costs, or limited costs, having received pro bono assistance. The losing side would gain an unfair benefit and indeed an unfair advantage in the litigation. .... Justices of the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court users’ group have expressed the view that Section 194 should apply to the Supreme Court as it does to other courts.”
Click here to see the UK Supreme Court press release on this issue.