Law Society warns legal aid dispute is ‘far from over’

Criminal barristers have recently voted to accept the Government’s legal aid fees pay deal and have ended their indefinite strike.

However, according to the Law Society, the long-running dispute over legal aid fees is not yet at an end, following its calls for criminal solicitors to receive an equal 15 per cent fee increase, matching the offer made to barristers.

The dispute over criminal legal aid funding is far from over. Solicitors must receive parity on the 15% fee increase offered to barristers by November, or the criminal justice system will be brought to its knees by a permanent exodus of practitioners.

Currently, solicitors’ fees are due to rise by just 9% which could threaten the future viability of some firms.

Law Society president, I. Stephanie Boyce, said: “Solicitors are the backbone of the crisis-hit criminal justice system.

“The justice minister may think he has got one problem off his table but there are bigger problems coming his way as this dispute continues. This is another example of a government U-turn making a bad situation worse.

“Our members will see that disruptive action achieves results that hard evidence and constructive engagement do not.”

Stephanie added: “Duty solicitor schemes in Barnstaple, Skegness and Ceredigion, among others, have already collapsed, and more will surely follow without immediate support for firms,”

“If this money can be found to bring a strike to an end, surely it can be found to give a fair deal to solicitors, who have kept the wheels of justice turning despite 25 years without a pay rise?

“This mounting permanent exodus of solicitors from the criminal defence profession won’t cause temporary problems for the criminal justice system, it will bring it to its knees altogether.”