Lord Elpers wrote:
Well it would be helpful if you could provide some detail to prove that you do know what you are talking about because so far it is just your opinion.
So far your opinion is based on assumptions. You have assumed that I have no idea of criminal legal aid, you have assumed I am not aware of the complexities of criminal law and you have further assume that I believe what the government want me to...whatever that means.
I am not taken in by government spin but neither am I taken in by a very rich and powerful Temple lobby.
The government has listened to the Law Society and have made changes to their initial proposals. The proposals require better efficiency and will initially consider better use of technology – for example holding short hearings by telephone or web or video-based applications. It will also consider ways of cutting the number of pre-trial hearings that require defendants in custody and advocates to attend court. This is not aimed at reducing hourly pay when working - but reducing cost that could be avoided.
Leveson’s review is expected to make recommendations for changes to the Criminal Procedure Rules to maximise efficiency and support the implementation of any changes proposed.
My comments were aimed at the barristers and not the solicitors who in many cases do earn very little when doing legal aid work.
A thing or two about qualifying as a barrister.
The quickest way to do this is, generally, to do a qualifying law degree. This lasts for 3 years. You then pay a whopping £17K to do the Bar Professional Training Course (formerly the Bar Vocational Course). Which takes a year.
The next stage is possibly the hardest in the whole process. You have to get something called pupillage, which is basically an apprenticeship year working as a trainee barrister, or pupil as they are called in the profession. So that's 5 years in total before you are a proper barrister, assuming you go straight through the system without any delay.
Pupillage is hotly contested, with chambers frequently getting 200-500 applications per pupillage on offer. Statistically speaking, your chances of getting a pupillage are around 20%, and if you don't get one within 5 years of completing the BPTC you start looking for a new career.
Assuming you want to work in crime expect to be paid £12K - £15K for your pupillage year (compared with £40K in a commerical set). Once you complete this you are then a fully qualified barrister. Hopefully the chambers you did you pupillage at will take you on, but they might not. In which case you are looking for a new chambers.
Assume you are taken on. So, you have made it and are ready to start earning the big bucks. Wrong!
You are self-employed. You fund all your own expenses. You fund all your own professional development. You will travel all over the country doing pissy little hearings in return for peanuts. Before you are allowed to do anything half-decent.
Instructing solicitors will be slow in paying you, your clerk will not chase them because the chambers you are at will want work from them. And you will not chase them for fear that they will not send you future work. (I know people who were receiving cheques in 2012 for work carried out in 2009.)
You will be up all night prepping cases and you can kiss goodbye to a social life or other half.
Eventually you might get some good cases, but even then don't expect to earn much more than £25K in your first couple of years. Being self-employed, you will have to make your own pension contributions and there is no holiday pay.
After around 2 years you will realise that the bloke selling second hand Mondeos down the local car garage is making more money then you, and you will either diversify you practice away from criminal law, or leave the profession altogether.
I have friends practising crime who are 5 years qualified. They earn around £40K per annum before tax, possibly slightly less. Legal Aid pay rates are so poor (not been increased since the mid 90s) that it is very difficult to earn more.
The only people earning much more are very experienced (10 years + qualified) and probably working on serious cases all the time. Or people doing the VHCC stuff.
The junior end of the independent criminal Bar is absolutely stuffed. And the going rate for a junior CPS barrister is about £35K.
Either way, there is bugger all money in criminal law. The average earnings of a criminal barrister are about £37K before tax. And people are leaving to do other stuff in droves.
You probably think this is a good thing, and that there are too many 'fat cat' lawyers. And whilst £37K may be a decent salary in Hull, it is bugger all in London.
And trust me, when you are the one picked by up the police for something you haven't done, you will be demanding the best representation. And you won't get it. Because anyone half-decent will have left to practise something else worth doing.
In the alternative, you may find yourself in crown court being represented by a solicitor-advocate. They have never done a pupillage and get their Higher Rights of Audience on a 3 day course with a quick exam at the end. And it shows.
