06 March 2025
The JEP's recent reporting on the Law Officers' Department is inaccurate, misleading and actively undermines the LOD staff who work so hard to enforce law and order and keep our Island safe. It is disappointing that the JEP published a Weekend Essay, the Headline to the JEP Weekend Edition (Law officers' 'obscene' £1.6 million spending revealed') and the Editor's Column on Saturday 1 March 2025, all without first obtaining comment from the Law Officers' Department (LOD).
The headline figure of £1.6 million from October 2023 to September 2024 represents all the LOD's external legal spend in a particularly demanding year. This includes the unprecedented large investigations relating to the gas explosion at Haut du Mont and the sinking of the L'Ecume II fishing vessel, specialist Civil cases, Safeguarding cases, Mutual Legal Assistance cases, external Crown Advocates in local Jersey law firms, and major international financial crime cases which are vital to safeguarding the Island's reputation as a financial centre.
The time period also coincides with a huge increase in the numbers of Royal Court trials, particularly for offences involving Violence Against Women and Girls. The LOD is improving prosecution and conviction rates for such offences but needs input from external lawyers specialising in such cases to achieve this.
The vast majority of the LOD's cases are advised on by LOD lawyers and staff without any instruction of external lawyers. It is only in exceptional cases where there is a particular need for additional support or training that an external lawyer is also instructed. They do not write scripts for LOD Advocates to read but, where they are instructed, they may comment on drafts produced by LOD Advocates.
The JEP articles omit any mention of the fact that monies spent on external lawyers can be recovered from the opposing side in litigation or from the defendant in criminal cases, through confiscation or forfeiture orders, or through costs orders. The LOD has recovered many millions which have been paid into the Criminal Offences Confiscation Fund or the Civil Asset Recovery Fund where they can be used for the projects for the benefit of the Island. For example, the first major confiscation under the 2018 Forfeiture of Assets (Civil Proceedings) Law resulted in US$10 million paid into the COCF in 2019, and in 2020 the Doraville case resulted in US$5 million being retained for the Island.
It is also wrong to suggest that there is no scrutiny of spending on external lawyers. All spending is in accordance with the procedures set out in the Public Finances Manual. Discounted rates are obtained for the work, the work is spread between providers to ensure competitive prices, the quality of the work is monitored. The Department is subject to audit by the C&AG.
The LOD has also been subject to an annual on-site inspection by Lexcel since 2019, which is an independent quality assurance standard and to independent oversight by an Audit Committee set up in accordance with a recommendation from the C&AG. The most recent Lexcel inspection report stated: “It is clear to the assessor that the Lexcel standard remains fully embedded in practice and the standard runs through the heart of every aspect of the department's functions resulting in a well-managed, cohesive and risk averse department."
The LOD does not have a Press Officer and was contacted by the JEP with a series of questions via the General Enquiries email box less than three hours before a deadline on a day when the Practice Director was away from the office. We replied that we were unable to respond within the tight deadline but would reply the next week when the Practice Director returned to the office. In view of the inaccuracies summarised above it is regrettable that the JEP chose to publish without waiting for any comment or input from the LOD.
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