A small group of lawyers are taking on around half of the legal aid cases in Cyprus’ courts, according to a report released by the Audit Office on Tuesday.

The report compiled statistics from the district courts of Nicosia, Limassol and Paphos, and found that in all three districts, small groups of lawyers are being assigned the bulk of cases.

In Nicosia, for example, 1,294 lawyers are registered to take on legal aid cases, but just nine lawyers undertook the representation of 41 per cent of the 312 such cases in 2021, 57 per cent of the 539 such cases in 2022, and 51 per cent of the 434 such cases between the beginning of 2023 and November 23 that year.

The report added that in June 2023, the Audit Office had received a complaint from two of those lawyers, and in its investigation found that of the 434 recorded legal aid cases that year, the pair had taken on 102 between them, while three other lawyers saw their share of the workload, and thus of their pay, rise significantly.

There was a similar story in Limassol, where 1,247 lawyers are registered to take on legal aid cases.

There, eight lawyers took on 57 per cent of the 693 such cases in 2020, with four of those lawyers belonging to the same family. The same eight lawyers took on 38 per cent of legal aid cases in 2021, and 67 per cent in 2022.

In Paphos, the situation is even more stark. A total of 1,250 lawyers are registered to take on legal aid cases in the district, but just 12 lawyers took on 76 per cent of such cases in 2021, 82 per cent in 2022, and 90 per cent in 2023.

The audit office wrote that it recommends for “possible ways to reduce this phenomenon to be examined”, including the devising of a maximum number of legal aid cases one lawyer can take on.

 “In the event that the court perceives a potential phenomenon of greed, it should be reported immediately to the Cyprus bar association to make any recommendations to or impose any sanctions on the lawyer involved,” the report suggested.

In addition to the matter of legal aid cases, the audit office’s report made a number of other recommendations, including regarding the energy efficiency of court buildings.

The report said many buildings used by the judicial service have “very low” energy efficiency, resulting in high energy costs.

For example, it wrote, the Supreme Court building’s energy bill for 2023 was a whopping €389,769, while in 2022, it was an even higher €418,671.

The report criticised “the continuous operation of air conditioners during the evening hours”, and the fact that this caused “nuisance to neighbours” in terms of the noise created, thus leading the Supreme Court to install soundproofing equipment “at additional cost”.

Other matters referenced in the report included that the construction of free parking spaces for bar association members caused the state to “incur significant costs”, and that a total of 2,206 books have been “lost” by the Supreme Court’s library.