Public defender ‘no guarantee of saving cash’

Wednesday 22nd December 2010, 1:00PM GMT.

Advocate Andrew Ayres. A PUBLIC defender system would not be a viable solution to the rise in legal aid costs, the Guernsey Bar Council has said.

Communications officer Advocate Andrew Ayres (pictured) was responding to comments made by Deputy Charles Parkinson about the spiralling legal aid bill.

The Treasury minister did not think that paying private members of the Guernsey Bar to represent people, who would otherwise not be, was the only way forward.

The 2011 Budget report also said that consideration would be given to the public defender model and investigations would look at reducing the entitlement to legal aid.