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29/12/2021
FI: The Turku Administrative Court determined the law applicable for a request for reimbursement of a private legal assistant following legislative changes to the Legal Aid Act

ECLI
Input Provided By
EUAA IDS
Other Source/Information
Type
Decision
Original Documents
Relevant Legislative Provisions
National law only (in case there is no reference to EU law/ECHR)
Reference
Finland, Turku Regional Administrative Court [fi. hallinto-oikeus], Applicant (no 2), H1525 / 2021, 29 December 2021. Link redirects to the English summary in the EUAA Case Law Database.
Permanent link to the case
https://caselaw.euaa.europa.eu/pages/viewcaselaw.aspx?CaseLawID=2245
Case history
Other information
Abstract

According to Finlex:


The Court examined whether an hourly fee could be awarded to a new assistant in an international protection case on the basis of a claim made after the entry into force of the Act repealing section 17a of the Legal Aid Act (738/2021).


Pursuant to section 17 (1) of the Legal Aid Act, a reasonable fee is charged to a private assistant for the necessary measures based on the time spent on them and the loss of time due to necessary travel, as well as compensation for expenses. For the purpose of awarding the fee, the assistant shall provide a detailed explanation of the action taken and the costs incurred, unless it is unnecessary to provide such a statement.


Pursuant to section 17a (650/2016) of the Legal Aid Act, in a matter concerning international protection, a reasonable ad hoc fee is set for a private assistant for the performance of the assistant's duties. The Government Decree stipulates in more detail the amount of the relevant fee.


Section 17a of the Legal Aid Act has been repealed by the Act on the Repeal of Section 17a of the Legal Aid Act (738/2021), which entered into force on 1 August 2021. This means that, subject to the entry into force of Act 738/2021, the provisions of section 17 (1) of the Legal Aid Act shall also apply in the case of international protection when determining the remuneration of a private assistant.


Pursuant to the entry into force of Section 2 (2) of the Act on the Repeal of Section 17a of the Legal Aid Act, the provisions in force at the entry into force of this Act shall apply to the remuneration of a private assistant in an international protection case if the claim was made before the entry into force of this Act.


The Administrative Court held that the claims for the remuneration of the various assistants were separate claims for remuneration. The evaluation was carried out on a per-assistant basis. The decisive factor was therefore when each assistant had requested that his remuneration be fixed. As the first assistant's claim for remuneration had been made before the entry into force of the law repealing section 17a of the Legal Aid Act, his remuneration had to be established on a case-by-case basis pursuant to section 17a of the Legal Aid Act. The new assistant's claim for remuneration, on the other hand, had been made after the entry into force of the amending provision and his remuneration had therefore to be fixed on an hourly basis in application of section 17 (1) of the Legal Aid Act.


 


Country of Decision
Finland
Court Name
FI: Turku Regional Administrative Court [fi. hallinto-oikeus]
Case Number
H1525 / 2021
Date of Decision
29/12/2021
Country of Origin
Keywords
Legal Aid/Legal assistance/representation
Source
FINLEX
RETURN