1 / 16

Legal A id in Finland 5.9.2014 R eykjavik

Legal A id in Finland 5.9.2014 R eykjavik. Jouko P elkonen, A dvocate. Jouko P elkonen. Attorney and partner at Apajalahti, Etelämäki, Pelkonen & Niemi Oy, Attorneys- at- Law Ltd. since 2001 The Board Member at the Finnish Bar Association 2011-2014 www.aepn.fi.

india
Download Presentation

Legal A id in Finland 5.9.2014 R eykjavik

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Legal Aid in Finland5.9.2014 Reykjavik Jouko Pelkonen, Advocate

  2. Jouko Pelkonen Attorney and partner at Apajalahti, Etelämäki, Pelkonen & Niemi Oy, Attorneys- at- Law Ltd. since 2001 The Board Member at the Finnish Bar Association 2011-2014 www.aepn.fi

  3. Facts of Presentation • Questionary to 25 colleaguesaround Finland • Strenghts and areas for improvement of Finnish Legal Aid System and howitshouldbedeveloped • Research: Public Legal Aid in the Viewpoint of Attorneys and otherprivatelawyers, publishedby The National Research Institute of Legal Policy • Cases in practicesince 1992

  4. Statistics 1/3 Total amount of Legal Aid cases in 2013 was 66 999 PrivateSectorsplead 22 233 Client canchooseattorneymainly in the case of courtproceedings

  5. Statistics 2/3 • Year 2013 Legal Aid courtproceedings: • 80 % General courts • 11 % Administrativecourts • 9 % cases outside courtproceedings, mainlyproceedings in accordance of Aliens Act

  6. Statistics 3/3 • Types of Proceedings: • 60% CriminalProceedings • 15 % Proceedings in accordance of Aliens Act • 14 % FamilyProceedingse.g. custodydisputes, confirmingoraltering the maintenanceallowance • 7 % Traditionalcivillawcases • 4 % Othercases

  7. Legal Aid civillawproceedings Housingdisputes Property disputes Demand of payment Employmentdisputes Equalitycases Private loan arrangements

  8. Clients of PrivateAttorneys • Structure and Development • Client structurediffersfrom State Legal Aid Officesclientstructure • The amount of Legal Aid clients is growing • Especiallyproceedings in accordance of Aliens Act is growing • Residence permit • Asyluminterviews, Asylumapplications • Citizenshipapplications

  9. What is good in Legal Aid System Based on the answers Legal Aid is goodsource of assignments Legal Aid System functionsprettywell The payer of the fees is reliable Electronic Legal Aid petitionsystemworkswell

  10. Problematics

  11. LowLevel Legal Aid Fee Attorneysdonotwant to takedemandingassignments with the feethat Legal Aid covers Attorneyservicesdecrease in countryside and sparselypopulatedarea New attorneysfindtheirway to companylawinstead of Legal Aid cases

  12. Too LowIncomeLimitfor Clients Legal Aid clientscannotafford to paytheirpercentage of Attorneysfee Attorneydonothavemeans to collectunpaidbill Legal Aid caseslosetheircost-effectiveness

  13. Structuralproblems Attorneysarequestioning the operationmodel of State Legal Aid Offices State Legal Aid Officesshouldfocus on judicialcounseling Attorneysaccess to all Legal Aid cases Present Legal Aid Model is expensive

  14. Challenges of Future How to offer Legal Aid with reasonablecost How to reachallthosewhoneed Legal Aid How to preserve Legal Aid caseseconomicallyprofitable How to preserve Legal Aid Attorneysservicesalso outside metropolitanarea and largercities

  15. Lines of Development for Future State Legal Aid officesfocus on judicialcounseling Access to all Legal Aid cases for privatesector Incomelimitreform for Legal Aid clients

  16. Thankyou! Takk! Tack!Tak! Kiitos!  jouko.pelkonen@aepn.fi +358405195711

More Related