On Friday, major crown courts in cities including London, Manchester, Birmingham and Liverpool in the UK will have a massive shortage of barristers as hundreds of lawyers marched together to Westminster in protest to the legal fee cuts proposed by the British government. BBC said that in April, the UK government will be cutting fees in complex, high-cost cases and other crown court work, which would amount to a total of £220 million in taxpayers' money.
The Criminal Bar Association (CBA) had already touted that the cuts would cripple the justice system in the UK. Although majority of the lawyers who had attended the walkout at Westminster, they have declined that their latest move is not a strike.
BBC said that of the $2 billion legal aid that the UK government spend annually, around half of the amount goes to defend criminal cases and some of the civil cases. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is planning to reduce the fees in some expensive cases by 30% and other legal work in crown courts by 18%.
The CBA's Nigel Lithman QC said about the cuts, "If these cuts are not addressed, then the British justice system, which is held in such high esteem around the world, will cease to exist as we know it and the British public can no longer expect true justice to be delivered."
A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) addressed the concerns of UK barristers and solicitors and stated that the legal aid systems in England and Wales are the most expensive in the world, and the government agency has no choice as it is merely responding to the austere times.
"As everybody knows, this government is dealing with an unprecedented financial challenge and the MoJ has no choice but to significantly reduce the amount of money it spends every year. We have spoken at length over the past year with solicitors and barristers about the reforms and our final plans reflect many of the changes they asked for. It does mean fee reductions, but it also includes a series of measures to ease their effect on lawyers," she added.
