Crisis in criminal law

Criminal defence solicitors are in danger of becoming ‘extinct’, the Law Society has warned.

New data published this week reveals a looming crisis with insufficient numbers of solicitors choosing to go into criminal law practice.

Joe Egan, Law Society president, said: ‘The justice system is facing a cliff edge scenario; criminal duty solicitors are part of an increasingly ageing profession, and government cuts mean there are not enough young lawyers entering the field of criminal defence work.

‘If this trend continues, in five to ten years’ time there could be insufficient criminal defence solicitors in many regions, leaving people in need of legal advice unable to access their rights. 20 years without any increases in fees and a series of drastic cuts have pushed the criminal justice system to the point where lawyers can no longer see a viable career doing this work.’

A Law Society heatmap (where data is represented as colours on a map) shows that across Dorset, Somerset, Wiltshire, Worcestershire, West Wales and Mid Wales, more than 60% of criminal law solicitors are aged over 50 years old, compared to only 27% of solicitors across the whole profession.

Meanwhile, in Norfolk, Suffolk, Cornwall and Worcestershire there are no criminal law solicitors aged under 35, with only one each in West Wales and Mid Wales, and only two in Devon.

Over at the Bar, more than 80 chambers have now pledged support for the ongoing action being taken by criminal barristers in protest at the advocates’ graduated fee scheme (AGFS). Barristers are refusing defence work.

Criminal Bar Association chair Angela Rafferty QC said this week: ‘This is far wider than any scheme relating to fees. The new AGFS was the final straw that exposed the chronic impoverishment of a once great system.’

In response to the action, a Ministry of Justice spokesperson countered: ‘Our reforms are fairer and replace an archaic scheme under which barristers billed by pages of evidence.’