More than 25,000 sign petition against criminal legal aid cuts

Rachel Bentley, a solicitor advocate in Exeter, has persuaded more than 25,000 people to sign an e-petition calling on the government not to proceed with its planned criminal legal aid cuts or take away clients' choice of solicitor.

"Myself and a colleague sat in the office having read the Ministry of Justice document and were very concerned about what it represents," Bentley, a partner at Trinity Advocates, said.

"Without reference to any committee or anyone else, we decided to do something and hoped that several hundred people would support it, but it has really taken off.

"We have not been a very united profession historically when dealing with this kind of issue but people feel so passionately, this is different.

"A massive amount of barristers and solicitors are saying 'this is not right'. The general public has been excluded from the consultation and will be largely unaware what is going on. Our biggest challenge is to get them involved."

Bentley said the campaign now had its own website, www.saveUKjustice.net, and a Facebook page set up by Bentley's colleague Katrina Byrne, and they were using Twitter to spread the word.

"Many people have been trying to contact the local papers and MPs to make the public aware of what is happening," Bentley said. "Family and other civil legal aid lawyers have already suffered massive cuts.

"We are most concerned that the government, if they get their way, will allocate lawyers. Gone will be the days of building a relationship with your client, and clients being able to choose their own lawyers.

"Gone will be quality standards, as our main incentive is to a good job for our clients and keep them with us."

Bentley predicted that the cuts, if they go through, would reduce the number of criminal law firms from 1,600 to 400, and result in "massive redundancies".

She described the fees solicitors were expected to bid at to obtain one of the new contracts as "just not viable", at 17.5 per cent or more less than current rates.

Bentley added that there would be a meeting for solicitors and barristers in Devon at Exeter University next week and other meetings around the country.

In a separate development, 20 law firms from the North West specialising in fraud met in Manchester last week, and rejected the "ill-conceived and unworkable" criminal legal aid proposals.

Franklin Sinclair, senior partner of Tuckers, described them as a "recipe for lower standards" and reduced public confidence.

"There is so much wrong with the proposals," Sinclair said. "They will destroy the criminal justice system."