The Criminal Defence Service (Funding) Order 2007

Interpretation

2.  In this Order—

“the Act” means the Access to Justice Act 1999;

“advocate” means a barrister, a solicitor advocate or a solicitor who is exercising their automatic rights of audience in the Crown Court;

“appropriate officer” means—

(a)

in the case of proceedings in the civil division of the Court of Appeal, the head of the civil appeals office;

(b)

in the case of proceedings in the criminal division of the Court of Appeal, the registrar;

(c)

in the case of proceedings in the Crown Court, the Commission;

(d)

in respect of advice or assistance as to an appeal from the Crown Court to the Court of Appeal, (except in the case of an appeal under section 9(11) of the Criminal Justice Act 1987(1)(preparatory hearings)) where, on the advice of any representative instructed, notice of appeal is given, or application for leave to appeal is made, whether or not such appeal is later abandoned, the registrar;

(e)

in respect of advice or assistance as to an appeal to the Courts-Martial Appeal Court, the registrar;

(f)

in respect of advice or assistance as to an appeal from the Court of Appeal to the House of Lords, where the appeal is not lodged with the House of Lords, the registrar; and

(g)

in any other case, the Commission,

and, in any case, includes an officer designated by the appropriate officer to act on his behalf for the purposes of this Order;

“assisted person” means a person in receipt of funded services;

“CDS Regulations” means the Criminal Defence Service (General) (No.2) Regulations 2001(2);

“class 1 offence”, “class 2 offence” and “class 3 offence” have the meanings given in paragraph III.21.1 of the Practice Direction (Criminal Proceedings: Consolidation)(3);

“the Commission” means the Legal Services Commission established under section 1 of the Act;

“fee earner” means a litigator, or person employed by a litigator, who undertakes work on a case;

“funded services” means services which are provided directly for an individual and funded for that individual as part of the Criminal Defence Service under sections 12 to 18 of the Act;

“instructed advocate” means

(a)

where a representation order provides for a single advocate, the first barrister or solicitor advocate instructed in the case, who has primary responsibility for the case; or

(b)

where a representation order provides for more than one advocate, each of—

(i)

the leading instructed advocate; and

(ii)

the led instructed advocate;

“leading instructed advocate” means the first leading barrister or solicitor advocate instructed in the case, who has primary responsibility for those aspects of a case undertaken by a leading advocate;

“led instructed advocate” means the first led barrister or solicitor advocate instructed in the case, who has primary responsibility for those aspects of the case undertaken by a led advocate;

“litigator” means the person named on the representation order as representing an assisted person, being a solicitor, firm of solicitors or other appropriately qualified person;

“registrar” means the registrar of criminal appeals;

“related proceedings” means—

(a)

two or more sets of proceedings involving the same defendant which are prepared, heard or dealt with together; or

(b)

proceedings involving more than one defendant which arise out of the same incident, so that the defendants are charged, tried or disposed of together;

“representation order” means a document granting a right to representation;

“representative” means a litigator or an advocate, including, where appropriate, an instructed advocate;

“senior solicitor” means a solicitor who, in the judgement of the appropriate officer, has the skill, knowledge and experience to deal with the most difficult and complex cases;

“solicitor advocate” means a solicitor who has obtained a higher courts advocacy qualification in accordance with regulations and rules of conduct of the Law Society;

“solicitor, legal executive or fee earner of equivalent experience” means a solicitor, Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives or equivalent senior fee earner who, in the judgement of the appropriate officer, has good knowledge and experience of the conduct of criminal cases;

“trainee solicitor or fee earner of equivalent experience” means a trainee solicitor or other fee earner who is not a Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives, who, in the judgement of the appropriate officer, carries out the routine work on a case; and

“Very High Cost Case” is a Crown Court case where if the case proceeds to trial, that trial would be likely to last for 41 days or longer, and any question as to whether the case fulfils this criterion must be determined by the Commission.

(1)

1987 c.38.

(2)

S.I. 2001/1437, as amended by S.I. 2002/712, 2002/2785, 2003/644, 2003/2378, 2004/1196, 2004/2046, 2005/2784, 2006/2490 and 2007/780.

(3)

[2002] 1WLR 2870. Paragraph III.21 was amended by Practice Direction (Crown Court: Classification and Allocation of Business) [2005] 1 WLR 2215.