Law Society to take government to court in row over fees
updated on 20 March 2023
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The Law Society has applied to the High Court to challenge the government’s decision to refuse an increase in legal aid salaries for criminal defence solicitors.
The Law Society has triggered a judicial review against the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) following the government’s decision to reject the suggested 15% legal aid rate increase for criminal defence solicitors. The Law Society described this decision as “irrational” and “unlawful”.
In November, the MOJ announced it was awarding solicitors an 11% rise in legal aid fees, calling it the “biggest boost to their pay in decades”; however, the Law Society has said this decision is a complete rejection of the advice from the government’s own independent review into the legal aid system.
The review, published by Lord Christopher Bellamy KC in 2021, suggested legal aid funding should increase by “at least 15%”. Bellamy warned this amount was the “minimum necessary as the first step in nursing the system of criminal legal aid back to health after years of neglect”.
Lubna Shuja, Law Society president claimed the government’s response “is too little, too late”, adding that the government is “short-changing solicitors, who are the backbone of the criminal justice system”.
By putting the MOJ’s decision under judicial review, the Law Society is asking the High Court to assess the lawfulness of the government’s decision. In a statement on its website the society said it’s taking legal action because the government has:
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“ignored the recommendations of its own judicial review”;
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“been inconsistent – finding money for defence and prosecution barristers but not solicitors”; and,
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“rejected independent mediation”.
Criminal duty solicitors exist to offer free legal advice to those detained by the police, often spending evenings and weekends at police stations advising those who’ve been arrested and explaining their legal rights. Since 2017 more than 1,000 duty solicitors have left their roles, which the Law Society attribute to a lack of “proper funding”.
The Law Society insists that underfunding is causing “real risk” to the justice system, as without duty solicitors:
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victims, witnesses, and defendants will be “denied access to justice”;
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there will be major delays in police stations or defendants will be released on bail “as police cannot interview them without a lawyer present”; and,
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there will be a greater “strain on our backlogged courts”.
In a statement given to the Independent Shuja said: “The government has failed to satisfactorily address the serious concerns we raised about the collapse of the criminal legal aid sector following years of chronic underfunding.”
Read about Law Society President Lubna Shuja’s career journey in this LCN Says.
