A London practitioner group has urged criminal defence solicitors to unionise amid concerns that the new government has no appetite or capacity to invest extra cash into the legal aid system.
The London Criminal Courts Solicitors Association told members to ‘get organised and get unionised’.
The association noted that the previous government did not commit to the minimum 15% fee uplift recommended by the Bellamy review, nor commented on how it proposes to remedy the grounds on which it was defeated in the Law Society’s High Court battle over fees.
The new government ‘is yet to publish specific policy detail in relation to legal aid, but the mood-music emanating from that direction is that there is no appetite, indeed no capacity, for any new meaningful public spending’, the association said.
To ‘affect the change the profession needs in order to ensure it has a sustainable future’, the association said solicitors must organise collectively by joining a trade union and urged members to join Unite, ‘whose Legal Sector Workers’ branch is ready and waiting to represent the interests of the rank and file in their fight for more investment into criminal legal aid as a means of securing better pay and conditions’.
Law Society president Nick Emmerson said defence solicitors being encouraged to unionise marks a step change in their determination to fight for the sustainability of the justice system. ‘It demonstrates how crucial it is that the UK government urgently takes the steps identified by the independent Bellamy Review to keep the system functioning,’ Emmerson said. ‘It is understandable that members of the profession feel the need to take such drastic action to protect access to justice. They play a vital role in the crisis-hit criminal justice system but they are ageing as younger lawyers are not attracted to the work and their numbers declining because their work is not financially viable.
‘The new government has taken rapid action on public sector pay and a similar approach to funding criminal defence solicitors could help to prevent the impending catastrophe in the justice system and stem the decline of this critical part of the legal sector.’
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: ‘Criminal defence solicitors play a vital role ensuring justice is delivered which is why we are carefully considering the issues raised and will respond in due course.’
