A senior island advocate has labelled proposals for a new state-backed public defender unit as a ’mad, crazy scheme.’

Terence McDonald fears legal firms could be forced to close if the scheme goes ahead.

And he warned it could even spell the demise of the historic Manx criminal bar.

And he was backed up by Isle of Man Law Society chief executive Juan Moore who said members were standing full square against the idea of a state-backed scheme.

The Law Society has set up a special committee to fight the proposals and is raising its profile, including the lobbying of MHKs.

Critics of the scheme including former Onchan MHK Peter Karran have branded the idea of a so-called Public Defender Unit as state control of the justice system.

The proposal is one of the recommedations of the Securing Added Value and Efficiencies, or SAVE, programme, which reported its findings earlier this year.

It would see a board of advocates employed directly by the Manx government, replacing the current legal aid system.

The scheme would see the creation of a permanent, full-time criminal defence team to replace private lawyers, primarily in summary court cases.

Law Society stalwart Terence McDonald, who sits on the special committee said: ’We are here to look after the interests of the members but our prime responsibility is to look after the interests of the public.

’And their best interests would not be served if this scheme was to go ahead.’

He added: ’It would mean that here in the island crime would be detected by the police, you would be prosecuted by the state prosecutor and you would be defended by the state criminal defence unit.’

He issued this grim warning: ’What is worrying is that if they do set this up the result will be that we won’t have a criminal bar. There won’t be sufficient legal work anyway, the Manx criminal bar will disappear.’

Both Mr McDonald and Mr Moore said it could ’absolutely result in law firms disappearing’.

Mr McDonald told Business News: ’Those small firms who do a lot of criminal and legal aid work could just disappear.’ He added advocates who chose to work in the criminal courts were not doing it for the money and pointed out that it was the lowest paid work for legal eagles.

’People who choose criminal work are not doing it for the money, you do have to have a bit of a calling to do it.’

Speaking from the law society’s office in Hope Street, Douglas, Juan Moore, chief executive of the organisation, confirmed they feared there would be no private criminal legal aid if a public defender unit came into being.

He said the Law Society is concerned that ’the state would have control of all criminal matters.’

Juan Moore said: ’So the state would incarcerate you in the prison and then if you wanted to take parole the state would look after that as well. So everything would be done by the state.’

Mr McDonald said there was also the economic aspect of this plan if it was ever implemented.

He said: ’Advocates and private law firms are part of business. We don’t only do legal aid. We do all kinds of work and a lot of firms are mixed firms with criminal work as part of that.’ He said criminal defence work on legal aid was vital ’bread and butter’ work for many firms

’The legal aid money comes in and it supports staff, it pays for rates, we pay taxes.

’If they have a state public defender unit the money will stop there. We also pay VAT. We are a vital part of the economy.

’Any fees we get are not justfees for the lawyer .

’Any of that money taken out of the public arena affects the economy.’

Mr Moore said: ’And it will affect medium sized firms who do some of the work and they would have to decide how they reorganise their practice.’

Mr McDonald said young advocates ’cut their teeth’ in the summary courts such as the High Bailiff’s court,and it was only after a number of years that they were qualified to deal with more serious offences in the Court of General Gaol.

He feared that the ’talent stream’ could dry up.

Juan Moore said there would be no way firms could train people up because the only ones left would be ’senior guys’ who would in time retire and not be replaced.

Terence McDonald said: ’It’s a mad, crazy scheme.’

The Law Society represents about 40 law firms in the island and Mr Moore said firms, ranging from large concerns down to smaller companies, were all against the idea of a public defender unit, which he said was now being explored by the Attorney General’s chambers.

The Law Society says in a statement the prospect of the state ’playing such a central role in every aspect of the criminal justice system and in particular taking responsibility for prosecuting and defending citizens is a central concern. How the government will seek to protect the rights of those members of the public who will need safeguarding in the future under the proposed scheme is yet to be identified.

’The introduction of a PDU is viewed by the Society as a one-way street.

’Once set up, if it proves unsuccessful either financially or practically, it will be difficult if not impossible, to replace as there would likely be no independent Manx criminal bar left in private practice.’

Both Mr McDonald and Mr Moore told Business News that an independent legal system is central to any modern democracy and the prospect of the state being both prosecutor and defender in criminal cases was a major concern.

They vowed to fight for the continuance of an independent criminal bar.