Solicitors join northern barristers' day of action

Around 70 solicitor advocates held their own protest meeting in the centre of Manchester yesterday in the same hotel as 400 barristers who gathered to discuss QASA and the government's cuts to criminal legal aid.

Barristers on the Northern Circuit voted not to take part in QASA earlier this month.

They came under strong pressure both from the CPS and senior judges not to apply to adjourn cases while they attended yesterday's protest meeting.

A spokesman for the Northern Circuit of the Bar said there was "no plan to disrupt the courts" and it was "unfortunate that those who organise the business of the courts did not feel able to arrange things to minimise the disruption as they have done in the past".

He said the Circuit did not "anticipate that we will need to repeat the process" but warned that other circuits "may well follow in holding similar events".

Rick Pratt QC, leader of the Northern Circuit, said government proposals for QASA and the consultation paper 'Transforming Legal Aid' represented "a crisis for the criminal justice system of this country; a legal system which has been admired and emulated around the world."

He went on: "What is proposed is nothing short of a wholesale restructuring of the criminal courts, shifting the emphasis from justice and the principle that it is for the state through the Crown Prosecution Service, to prove every case in the criminal court, to a new set of principles heavily influenced by cost."

Pratt said the consultation paper "makes it clear that no other options have been considered" and "alternative ways to achieve significant savings, whilst maintaining the integrity of the system, must be explored".

He said it was "sadly inevitable" that there had been disruption to the courts, which were notified early last week of what was proposed, yet no arrangements were made to allow the barristers to attend the meeting, nor minimise the effect of it.

"We will fight to maintain our system of justice."