Secondary legal assistance may be both of better quality and more economic
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The State allocates increasing amounts of funds every year to enable the needy persons to defend their interests in Courts for free with the help of lawyers. Last year LTL 15.6 million were allocated from the State Budget to provision of secondary legal assistance. The audit of provision of secondary legal assistance conducted by the National Audit Office revealed that State funds allocated to the assistance are not always used economically, while the quality of legal services purchased from lawyers by the State is not sufficient, therefore it is necessary to improve organization of secondary legal assistance. According to the |
Auditor General Rasa Budbergytë, the State should not remunerate for
lawyers‘ services to persons, who are able to pay for them themselves;
remuneration procedure for lawyers‘ services should be changed, and the
quality of the purchased services ensured.
In the opinion of the NAO, remuneration for the rendered legal
assistance services should follow the principle of remuneration for work
done in order to efficiently use the State Budget funds. Currently all
the lawyers providing secondary legal assistance on a constant basis are
paid a steady salary, which depends neither on the scope of provided
secondary legal assistance, nor on its quality. Currently the salary
totals LTL 6.000 per month. Furthermore, lawyers are given workspaces in
the services‘ offices; they are allowed to use State property, and all
their activity costs are covered. Such procedure does not conform to
provision of the Law on the Bar stating that “ expenses related to the
advocate’s activities shall be covered from the advocate’s fee for the
legal services provided under the contract and from remuneration for the
provided state-guaranteed legal aid.”
The NAO recommends to amend provisions of legislation regulating
provision of legal assistance in criminal cases. Under the Convention
for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, free
assistance should be provided by the State in cases when it is required
by interests of justice, and when a person does not have sufficient
means to to pay for legal assistance. In Lithuania in criminal cases,
when attendance of a defender is mandatory, legal assistance to persons
is provided without prior assessment of whether he himself has
sufficient means to pay for legal assistance.
The National Audit Office issued recommendations to the Ministry of
Justice, the implementation of which would make the use of State funds
for secondary legal assistance more economic and efficient, while
citizens would receive better quality legal services.
Full report is available in Lithuanian:
State-Guaranteed Secondary Legal Assistance 