BackAccess to law is one of the most important guarantees of the enforcement of the rule of law, it is however insufficient to ensure it only on a constitutional level. For those who do not possess sufficient financial resources the state shall provide legal aid so that they be able to use legal assistants necessary for the effective enforcement of their rights.
It is not only by the intervention of a legal assistant, out of court, that the burden of courts can be reduced but also by preventing litigious situations, for example by receiving clients and giving clients timely and personalised legal information.
In his inquiry the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights focused on the enforcement of the principle of the rule of law, on the requirement of legal certainty derived from it and on due process.
Legal aid services started operating on 1 April 2004. Since 2006 their caseload has increased significantly. Better enforcement of interests is characteristic for the Western part of the country, and the number of clients using legal services is also very high in the capital. In the beginning these services provided only out of court services, but later with the introduction of legal assistance in litigious matters in 2009 their caseload increased further.
Based on responses received from legal aid services one can primarily object to the hourly rate of legal assistants, the amount of which is HUF 3.000, unchanged since 2007. Because of the fact that they deem their hourly fee too low and because of ‘frequently returning’ problematic clients many legal assistants do not prolong their contracts with legal aid services. An increase in the hourly rate of legal assistants would provide an incentive for them to prolong their service contracts and to more actively perform their tasks.
Responses also revealed that clients are in general satisfied with the work of legal assistants, but in many cases they have difficulties in choosing the legal assistant specialised in the area they are interested in because the special fields of expertise of legal assistants are not indicated in sufficient detail in the roster. By providing more detail in the roster of legal assistants it would become clearer for both the services and the clients which legal assistants can give effective help in different cases.
Legal assistance services have indicated that legal assistants often do not notify changes in their contact numbers, therefore it is difficult or impossible to reach them, and this constitutes an infringement of the right of clients to due process.
The Commissioner has established that it is more and more urgent to amend the Act on Legal Aid since several provisions of the Act may infringe the right of clients to due process. Máté Szabó has requested the Minister for Public Administration and Justice to initiate as soon as possible an amendment to the Act on Legal Aid and to send the draft to his office for consultation.
In an earlier letter the Ministry for Public Administration and Justice informed the Commissioner that preparations for an amendment to the Act are already under way.
Source: Commissioner for Fundamental Rights
