Update:**What did I say again about senior barristers leaving legal aid work?*
Many thanks to UK Barristers on Twitter for this one.
By they I of course mean the LSC, the dreaded legal services commission, that just happens to grant legal aid to cases. (In the photo the man represents the LSC obviously pointing and aiming at all the fat cat barristers, vulnerable families and people who may have committed a crime)
We have seen what has happened previously with the VHCC contract scheme, which many barristers including Simon Myerson refused to sign. The barristers that did sign it were referred to as "scabs".
Now why is it that the LSC is determined to undermine the livelihoods of those who practice at the publicly funded bar?
This story also popped into my inbox ,which was very familiar of Barrister Belle's story here.
Of course now more than ever public spending cuts have to be made, and such cuts will be justified because of the 'recession' however these plans I believe to cut legal aid have been going on for a long time, we've had the Lord Carter Report on Legal Aid and why should public spending cuts be to justice? Is this not integral and fundamental to our society?
One can only predict the various alternative futures that may happen due to legal aid cuts, senior members of the Bar no longer taking on legal aid work, a two tier profession developing where the Criminal and Family Bar no longer attract the best or brightest, and earn a fraction of their Civil Bar counterparts.
If there isn't enough money for criminal work then solicitor firms will be even further squeezed to do advocacy work in house then the criminal Bar will become what? In fluctuated with HCA's who may or may not be good should we then rename the criminal Bar to the Higher Court Advocates' Association? Because it certainly looks like it is going that way.
I sometimes feel like Cassandra saying that the sky is going to fall down, I mainly post on criminal matters and about wanting to go into practice, The Future of the Criminal Bar, and Not a good time to be a criminal barrister part I and partII all outline my thoughts on the matter..
So why isn't anyone doing anything about it? What can the Bar do to stop what will be in effect people receiving injustice from a system that is underpaid and overworked. There have been talks of strikes in the past of those doing criminal work, however reluctantly no one actually agrees...
Is it time to take a stand? To say actually no, this isn't the way forward...?!
Who knows? I don't.
2 comments:
I've no idea, to be honest - I don't know enough about the politics and mechanisms involved here (although I too want to work in criminal law).
I'd hazard a guess that spending money on "criminals" to line the pockets of fat cat barristers wouldn't go down too well at the moment.
Even though justice demands decent representation for all those accused (who are innocent until proven guilty, after all - hence why they get legal aid) and that justice also demands that it is the brightest and the best who represent those people. Talent generally follows money, after all.
The experience of a friend who is in the early years of practice is that if you mix criminal practice with some related areas that are (ahem) better paid, you can have the best of both worlds.
I agree it's a sorry state of affairs though. Do they want us to be like america?!
Legal aid costs the most at the high end cases, such as Fraud trials that may go on for 15 weeks..
It has been estimated that its 1% of criminal work that costs about 50% of the legal aid budget, thats why the LSC wanted to introduce the VHCC tighter checks etc which is understandable.
From new solicitors I hear that some barristers are shit anyway, so why shouldn't they have the chance to do some advocacy.
I can see why barristers become shit, if they become lazy, but I doubt they would be dreadful, though as in every profession people like it must exist.
Does the Bar deserve a monopoly on advocacy though? Or should we have a merged system such as in the US?
I think solicitors would argue that some of the work isn't that hard, and why can't they do it, and make the same amount of money...
the Bar will just have to get better, but will it?
And yes I do like the mixing criminal and civil work, life would be easier that way!
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