Opinion: Applying for legal aid when you don’t have money for a lawyer Loop Cayman Islands

Black Immigrant Daily News

Readers are asked to note that Op-eds do not necessarily reflect the opinions or beliefs of Loop Cayman.

by ‘Concerned Citizen’

Just like me, you may have found yourself in a predicament but didn’t have the money to hire a lawyer to represent you in court. In my circumstances, I gave up because I didn’t have sufficient finances and wasn’t aware of alternative resources. Subsequently, I learned about the option to apply to the government for legal aid, which I think is an incredible source of funding that can improve your chances to obtain representation in court.

Qualifying for legal aid

First, you can find guidance on the application process on the court’s website (https://www.judicial.ky/guidance-information).

To understand this guidance in more depth, you may need to review the Legal Aid Act and the Legal Aid Regulations.

But, since laws and regulations can be complicated at times, I think it is better to illustrate the process through a description of a real court case where legal ais funding was utilized.

For this, let’s refer to the recent challenge by Kattina Anglin against the Director of Legal Aid (the “Director”).

Anglin, like any other legal aid applicant, went through the standard process: completing forms, providing documentation and then waiting for an answer from the Director.

Before furnishing a response, here are some of the things that the Director may explore:

Strength of your argument and the likelihood that it will be successful in court (in lawyer terms, having a reasonable prospect of success based on the merits of the case)Seeing if the issues you raise are of general public importance, which are in the public interest to resolveExamining whether the matter involves a substantial question of law Analyzing your financial position (generally speaking, the yearly total income of your household must be a low number, as explained on page 22 of the Legal Aid Regulations, if you can obtain a copy)

Grant of legal aid

If the Director of Legal Aid (the “Director”) is satisfied that you have met the above terms and you have a reasonable prospect of success in court, the Director may issue a legal aid certificate to you. The amount of legal aid funding you will receive (to pay for court proceedings) will be specified in this certificate.

In the event that you require more funding for subsequent stages of your case (for example, you may lose at the first stage of your case, but you may wish to go to the second stage and appeal), you can apply to the Director for more funding. This was actually the case for Anglin, who was unsuccessful at the first stage and applied for more money to fund subsequent stages.

Alternatively, the Director may refuse to issue you a legal aid certificate. This may be the case if the Director believes that you do not have a reasonable prospect of success in your case.

However, as noted in the Anglin case, the Director must provide reasons for any refusal. If no reasons are presented by the Director, the court may, as in the Anglin case, reverse the legal aid refusal and make funding available to you.

Knowledge is power

In my opinion, knowledge of these legal aid rules and successfully qualifying for legal aid funding can change your outlook. You may go from feeling down-and-out, crushed and downtrodden to positive, hopeful and motivated, now that funds are available to help with your representation.

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