Turning point for justice system?

The justice system may be at a “turning point”, Bar Council chair Nicholas Lavender QC has said.

Speaking at the annual bar conference in London last week, Lavender described recent government cuts as the “biggest sustained onslaught on access to justice through legal aid that there has ever been” and called for the profession to maintain its best advocates in publicly funded work.

However, he said there is some recognition that the cuts have now gone too far, and noted that in 2014 there have been no further cuts to legal aid for Crown Court advocates.

He told delegates that even judges were openly referencing the impact of cuts to the justice system, pointing to Judge Louise Hallam’s recent warning on what the effect of these cuts will be after an illiterate mother of four, with poor sight and hearing, was forced to represent herself in a court hearing over the custody of her children.

Lavender said efforts to promote the Bar overseas have paid off—one eighth of the Bar’s total income now comes from overseas clients.