Ordinance on Legal Aid (OAJ) - Choice of Legal Counsel (VGR)

1. The official legal advisor is chosen from lawyers or legal interns licensed to practice in the canton.

2. When appointing the legal advisor, the competent authority shall, where possible, confirm the choice of the represented party. It must ensure that the addressed legal intern has sufficient experience regarding the nature and significance of the case.

1. Proceedings for free legal aid pending at the time of the enactment of this amendment are subject to the old law.

1. The official legal counsel is subject to the legislation governing the legal profession.

2. The trainee lawyer performs his duties as an official legal counsel under the supervision and responsibility of the training supervisor, who must be informed about the assignment in each case.

1. The authority addressed may at any time, either on its own initiative or upon a justified request by the official legal advisor or the person represented, revoke the official mandate.

1. The application for the provision of legal assistance must be submitted in writing to the authority in question.

2. The applicant must demonstrate their income and asset situation by, in particular, submitting the most recent legally binding tax assessment decision. They must present the case and specify the evidence they intend to assert. The applicant may also state the name of the desired legal counsel in their application.

1. The authority dealing with the main proceedings grants and revokes legal assistance.

2. If it is a collegiate authority, the president makes the decision.

1. The competent authority estimates the amount of the procedural costs and determines the financial circumstances of the applicant based on the files and an investigation appropriate to the circumstances.

2. In principle, documentary evidence shall apply. Additional evidence may be admitted.

3. The applicant is obliged to release third parties from professional confidentiality and to submit the required documents and provide information. Otherwise, the applicant has not credibly demonstrated indigence, unless it results from the files.

4. Addressed third parties are obligated to provide the requested documents for production, under the threat of a disciplinary fine of up to 300 Swiss francs in the event of non-compliance.

1. If the right to be heard is guaranteed, the competent authority decides without a hearing within a short period and generally before a decision is made in the main proceedings.

2. In cases that occur in administrative proceedings, it decides without an oral hearing, after the parties concerned have been able to assert their right to be heard and before a decision is made in the main proceedings.

1. No costs shall be charged for the proceedings concerning legal aid, except in cases of bad faith or frivolous conduct. In such cases, the competent authority may also impose a regulatory fine of 300 Swiss Francs.

2. The decision on compensation is rendered together with the main matter.

1. The authority in charge of the matter calculates the costs of the main proceedings in the usual manner, even if a party granted legal aid is exempt from advancing these costs.

2. Upon conclusion of the proceedings, the party not granted legal aid is either billed for or reimbursed the portion of the costs that is not covered by or falls short of their advance payment.

3. The costs owed by the party granted legal aid are settled on behalf of the obligated public entity.

1. The legal counsel may submit an application for an advance payment, to which they shall attach an account statement pursuant to Article 13, paragraph 1.

2. The requested authority grants an advance payment if the proceedings have caused a significant amount of work and were initiated more than a year ago, or if a year has passed since the last advance payment.

1. To the extent that the costs of the main proceedings are imposed on the assisted party, the expenses and fees of their official legal counsel shall be paid by the liable community.

2. The liable community shall also pay the expenses and fees of the official legal counsel if the counterparty, ordered to pay compensation, proves to be insolvent, provided that the assisted party has diligently exercised their right to demand security.

3. In all cases, the remuneration of the official legal counsel and the payment of their expenses shall follow the rules contained in Article 30 paragraphs 1 and 2 letter b of the Act concerning the Tariff of Costs and Compensations before Judicial or Administrative Authorities of February 11, 2009 (GTar).

1. The authority handling the main proceedings shall determine the amount owed in its decision regarding compensation, which must be paid by the public body to the official legal counsel of the party represented and completely unsuccessful.

2. In other instances, the determination of this amount shall be the subject of a subsequent decision by the authority or its president, who has decided on the compensation in the main matter.

3. Decisions regarding the determination of expenses and fees owed by the public body to the legal counsel within the framework of official legal assistance are subject to the legal remedies provided for in the GTar.

1. The payment of the expenses and fees of the legal counsel, which depends on the insolvency of one of the parties, shall be effected based on a certificate of loss, which must be submitted under penalty of forfeiture within two years from the date the decision on the compensations comes into force.

2. The two-year period does not run between the date of the opening, the enforcement, and the issuance of the certificate of loss.

3. The unpaid enforcement fees shall be added to the expenses and fees assumed by the public authority.

4. If the insolvency of the party is generally known, is evident from the documents of the main proceedings, or if the initiation or continuation of debt enforcement appears from the outset to be without a prospect of success or disproportionate due to the circumstances, the interested party may request, by presenting the statement provided for in Article 13 paragraph 3, to be exempted in the decision on compensations from the obligation to submit a certificate of loss.

1. The expenses and fees of legal counsel to be paid by the public authority shall be the subject of an account statement, which includes a detailed and chronological list of all compensable actions and incidents, and additionally contains the date of granting legal assistance, the identity of the beneficiary, the date of any possible revocation, the recipient of the requested payment, and the payment address.

2. This account statement must be included by each party with legal assistance in the one provided for in Article 5, Paragraph 2 GTar, and shall be supplemented according to Paragraph 3 if the amount owed to the legal counsel is not determined in the compensation decision.

3. In other cases, the account statement must be filed under penalty of forfeiture as indicated in Article 12, Paragraph 1, including the note of unpaid execution costs as well as the amounts collected from the opposing party.

1. Decisions granting or withdrawing legal aid, terminating the official mandate, concerning the regulation of costs and compensations of the main proceedings, as well as expenses and fees to be borne by the community, shall be delivered to the enforcement authority once they are final, with the order to make the payments.

2. If, at the end of the main proceedings, the person receiving legal aid has obtained sufficient means, the competent authority shall inform the enforcement authority and simultaneously convey their decision regarding the costs.

3. The enforcement authority shall pay the costs imposed on the person receiving legal aid to the judicial and administrative authorities and the costs and expenses chargeable to the community to the legal representatives.

1. The enforcement authority shall ex officio take all necessary measures for the purpose of restitution. It is also responsible for reclaiming services rendered in the event of the premature termination of legal representation from the assisted person or their new legal representative, insofar as the latter receives payment of fees at the end of the main proceedings.

2. The obligated public community shall be subrogated to the rights of the beneficiary against the insolvent opposing party up to the amount it has paid.

3. As long as the claim for restitution of the services rendered exists, the assisted person is obliged to release third parties from professional confidentiality and to submit all requested documents and provide information as required.

1. If the person required to make repayment disputes their obligation, the enforcement authority shall decide subject to the right of appeal in accordance with the provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act and Administrative Justice Act.

1. The Ordinance on Judicial and Administrative Legal Assistance of October 7, 1998 is repealed.

2. Proceedings for legal assistance pending at the time of this Ordinance's entry into force are governed by the old law.

3. This Ordinance shall be published in the Official Gazette to come into effect simultaneously with the Act on Free Legal Aid of February 11, 2009.