In Aftonbladet’s acclaimed lawyer review, cheating with cost bills has been revealed.
Now demands are made for changes in the law.
– This is an extreme loss of confidence in the corps. Better control is needed, says Thomas Rolén, Director General of the Swedish Courts Administration.
Aftonbladet’s ongoing review The lawyers have so far revealed how two of Sweden’s most lucrative public defenders have provided incorrect information in their cost accounts. Among others, lawyer Gabriel Barsoum, who last year invoiced the courts over SEK 9 million.
Earlier this year, Neo Barstedt was expelled from the Swedish Bar Association, partly due to his shortcomings with his cost estimates and after Aftonbladet’s review of Barstedt, a preliminary investigation was launched into suspected fraud.
The review has provoked strong reactions.
Thomas Rolén, Director General of the Swedish Courts Administration, thinks it is important to pay attention to lawyers who cheat with cost bills – and believes that changes are needed in the current system.
– This is simply not acceptable. The control of lawyers’ bills can be improved, because we do not have full control. This is not to say that irregularities are constantly being committed, says Rolén.
In March, his authority submitted a report to the government – with several different proposals to tighten controls. Last year, legal assistants, such as lawyers, cost taxpayers SEK 3.7 billion.
– That we get better control of how the money is used is completely reasonable, says Rolén.
Role: Need to change the law
The Swedish National Courts Administration wants to see several changes – and ultimately Thomas Rolén believes that changes in the law are needed.
– We have made an investigation and there we have nine proposals for measures that require ordinance or law changes. I think it is good to have a review of the regulations in their entirety, as the costs have increased so much. As a paying authority, we should be able to tell the government and taxpayers that we know where the money is going.
In Aftonbladet’s review, several in the judiciary state that lawyers’ claims for compensation are often decided too quickly.
One of the National Courts Administration’s proposals is now that the courts should have more time to decide whether the requirements are reasonable.
– When a criminal case is decided, the question of compensation is decided at the end of the hearing. It may not always have the time needed to consider the decision. That is why we have as a proposal that you could decide the case in substance and then the judge himself, without judges, could think about the compensation, says Thomas Rolén.
In Aftonbladet’s review, it has been revealed, among other things, how lawyers invoiced for the same waste of time, in several different cases.
DG critical of waste of time
The waste of time often means the travel time or waiting time a lawyer has in a case and where the lawyer does not consider himself able to work. Among other things, it has been noticed how lawyers demanded compensation for riding trains and said they could not work then – while prosecutors believed that a lawyer should certainly be able to work on trains.
Thomas Rolén is now opening up to completely scrap the form of compensation.
– It is an old-fashioned and old concept. It is based on the fact that the lawyer had time that was spent on the case where he could not work. But now you can, for example, sit on a train and work. Then it’s not a waste of time anymore. In Norway, it has been removed or greatly reduced. Maybe this is something to consider in Sweden as well.