Desmond Browne

The Bar Council attended all three major political party conferences this year. Our involvement in these events provided us with useful opportunities to meet various politicians and to share our ideas about the justice agenda. In these recessionary times, and given that we are, in the words of the Legal Services Commission, “celebrating” 60 years of legal aid, it will come as no surprise that I used these opportunities to brief ministers and opposition portfolio-holders on access to justice, legal aid funding, and the impact that cuts to the legal aid budget will have on vulnerable members of society who may be unable to obtain the representation they need.

The government should act now to counter concerns about the Legal Services Bill’s threat to independence, says Desmond Browne QC