Lawyers stage second walk-out over legal aid cuts:Thousands of lawyers opposed to legal aid cuts in England and Wales are staging a second walk-out this year.The Criminal Bar Association (CBA) called the cuts crippling ahead of the action, which is set to affect trials across the country. The government is pressing ahead with fee cuts for barristers and solicitors in an effort to save £220m from the £2bn annual cost of legal aid. It said reform of the expensive system was vital in austere times. Thousands of criminal case lawyers staged a first walk out in January, causing widespread disruption. Trials affected On Friday, barristers will not attend proceedings at major crown courts in cities including London, Manchester, Birmingham and Liverpool, and hundreds of lawyers will march on Westminster in protest. They will be addressed by speakers including former Blur drummer-turned-solicitor Dave Rowntree, the mother of Gary McKinnon, who narrowly avoided extradition to the US, and Paddy Hill, one of the Birmingham Six. If these cuts are not addressed, then the British justice system, which is held in such high esteem around the world, will cease to exist as we know it and the British public can no longer expect true justice to be delivered.” Nigel Lithman Criminal Bar Association chairman High-profile trials are set to be affected, including the trial of the man accused of killing PC Keith Blakelock, a charge he denies. Barristers and solicitors are not calling it a strike.Legal aid costs taxpayers about £2bn every year - half goes on criminal defence and the rest on civil cases. Government proposals - being phased in from April - to cut that by £220m include cutting fees in complex, high-cost cases by 30%, and in other crown court work by up to 18%. Cease to exist The CBA and the London Criminal Courts Solicitors Association (LCCSA) say the fee cuts are financially unnecessary and will cause significant damage to the criminal justice system by driving skilled and experienced lawyers away from publicly funded criminal work. The CBAs Nigel Lithman QC said: If these cuts are not addressed, then the British justice system, which is held in such high esteem around the world, will cease to exist as we know it and the British public can no longer expect true justice to be delivered. The effect will be crippling. It means people of social diversity will not be able to come to the Bar, will not be able to go into criminal law. He added the effect of payment cuts to solicitors would mean one third of them will go out of business and people coming from university will simply choose not to go into the criminal justice system because they wont be able to afford to. The LCCSA said the cuts will force hundreds of law firms in England and Wales to close. A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said that at about £2bn, England and Wales had one of the most expensive legal aid systems in the world. Unprecedented challenge As everybody knows, this government is dealing with an unprecedented financial challenge and the MoJ has no choice but to significantly reduce the amount of money it spends every year, she added. We have spoken at length over the past year with solicitors and barristers about the reforms and our final plans reflect many of the changes they asked for. It does mean fee reductions, but it also includes a series of measures to ease their effect on lawyers. She said the plans represented an average 2% reduction for barristers at the lower end of the fee income scale and an average of 6% more generally. The CBA said many junior barristers face rates as low as £20 a day, once the hours of preparation, time in court and chambers fees are factored in, as well as receiving no holiday pay, no pension provision and no sickness or maternity benefits.
Posted on: Fri, 07 Mar 2014 11:05:08 +0000
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