The Law Society has sent a letter before action to the Lord Chancellor, Dominic Raab, urging him to increase defence solicitors’ legal aid pay rates or face a judicial review.
The letter, sent this week, calls on Raab to raise rates of pay by at least 15%, the bare minimum recommended as an immediate step by Lord Bellamy’s independent review of legal aid last year. It challenges Raab’s decisions not to implement the recommended increase and not to take action to address the risk of market failure as unlawful and irrational.
Law Society president Lubna Shuja said: ‘We argue both decisions are irrational and inconsistent with the constitutional right of access to justice.
‘Lord Bellamy’s report rightly focused on the resilience and sustainability of the crisis-hit criminal justice system. Criminal defence solicitors provide an essential service within that system but they simply won’t be there if the profession is not economically viable—and the government’s decisions mean it will not be.
‘The huge court backlogs, the crumbling court infrastructure, the lack of judges and lawyers, duty schemes on the brink—all paint a clear picture of a criminal justice system in crisis. A system that is evidently collapsing due to inadequate levels of government investment.
‘What is so frustrating is that a rational policy path was identified in Lord Bellamy’s comprehensive review and largely accepted, including 15% for barristers, but then the key recommendation affecting solicitors—who were viewed as being in the most "parlous state"—was rejected.’
While Raab has claimed solicitors are being given a 15% rise, Law Society analysis of the offer found the increase actually amounted to 9%.
The Criminal Bar received a 15% offer along with some other concessions as part of a deal brokered by Raab’s predecessor to end its strike action last year.
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