Criminal barristers will be striking tomorrow...

We should care?? Can't say the defenders of crooks will get any sympathy from me.

We should care?? Can't say the defenders of crooks will get any sympathy from me.

Cue the tabloids banging on about lawyer earning millions out of public purse, whilst singly failing to mentions it's some Essex Court machine on a JR rather than criminal.

We should care?? Can't say the defenders of crooks will get any sympathy from me.

...for half a day.

I am pleased that the Criminal Bar Association has taken this course of action. Months, if not years, have been spent trying to talk to the government and all we got was a sham consultation and the full force of the MOJ's lie machine pumping out of context figures into the press.

As the Telegraph said yesterday, "For relations between the Government and the leading players in its own justice system to have deteriorated to this abject point must, in any civilised society, be regarded as a monumental failure by the Ministry of Justice."

This chart shows, quite well, why barristers are feeling hard done by:



And this one shows that the legal aid budget is under control and has been falling yearly since 2004/5:



It is a shame that FailingGrayling has dodged the facts and ploughed ahead with cuts which will almost certainly end up costing more in the long run. Meanwhile, the MOJ was happy to shovel money into private contractors such as G4S and Capita... who then went on to screw the taxpayer over.

Where can I read up on legal aid?
I have no idea whats going on

Barristers prosecute and defend. So it isn't just a risk of innocent people getting sent down, but also guilty people going free due to botched prosecutions.

In any event, everyone deserves a defence. Your comment displays a total disregard for the justice system this country has developed. You deserve a place in the cabinet.

Posted from TSR Mobile

It is a shame that these ridiculous figures are published. They really do not represent earnings at the criminal bar.

However it is the government who are to blame. There has been a deliberate campaign of misinformation. Grayling has been incredibly dishonest.

Posted from TSR Mobile

He's probably referring more to situations where guilt has been determined/perhaps the perpetrator has pleaded guilty himself, and his lawyer attempts to get him lighter sentences based on technicalities and such

All within the confines of the law.

You have to admire Cameron's astute placement of Grayling, the first non-lawyer in centuries, apparently, and therefore presumably less affected by pressure from inside.

Not really, criminal and civil are very separate and many civil lawyers couldn't give two ****s about the state of the criminal Bar, you only have to look at RoF threads on the subject to see that.

Is this supposed to be a response to me?

Yeah, as in previous Justice Secs are unlikely to have been either, they're usually civil, though Straw was crim.

Where can I read up on legal aid?
I have no idea whats going on

I don't think that makes them less immune to pressure from inside the profession, especially with the Inns bringing everyone together, benchers, QCs and Judges from criminal etc. Divorcing him entirely from the profession leaves him with no friends or opportunities to lose in raping criminal funding.