Lawyers Stage Historic Strike For Legal Aid

Fightback against £220m cuts begins

An unprecedented court strike was supported yesterday by thousands of lawyers opposed to Tory plans to slash legal aid and sentence the poorest to injustice.

Over 200 barristers in black gowns and wigs picketed London's Old Bailey as part of their first ever national industrial action.

Major walkouts were also staged in Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Birmingham, Newcastle, Winchester, Bristol and Cardiff before lawyers returned to their cases at 2pm.

The Criminal Bar Association (CBA) reported that their strike had been supported by almost every chambers across England and Wales.

It came in response to Tory Justice Secretary Chris Grayling's plans to slash £220 million from the legal aid budget by 2018/19.

Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers chair Liz Davies told the Star the action was "unprecedented and very united."

She said: "We hope this will make the government think twice about cutting both criminal and civil legal aid.

"Lawyers, like doctors, are very reluctant to go on strike because we feel a responsibility to our clients.

"But the fact that thousands of lawyers have been demanding action shows just what a threat these cuts are."

Mr Grayling wants to remove funding for civil legal aid cases like child custody cases and cut funding for criminal legal aid by up to 30 per cent.
The Ministry of Justice attempted last week t
o smear lawyers as fat cats when they warned the cuts would stop them taking on legal aid cases.

It claimed the median figure of public cash paid to the 4,931 barristers who represented legal aid clients last year was £72,000.

But after VAT, office overheads and other expenses, the CBA said the average lawyer earned £36,000 a year.

CBA chairman Nigel Lithman said: "You can put out the earnings of five to 10 people, but you can't run the justice system on the efforts of five to 10 people."

Shadow Justice Secretary Sadiq Khan said the Con-Dem government's relationship with the legal professional has "collapsed as a result of policies which could restrict access to our courts to only those who can afford it."

Morning Star