Plans to cut legal aid fees warning

The Bar Council has issued a warning over plans to cut legal aid fees

Government plans to slash legal aid fees to barristers would be disastrous, the chairman of the Bar Council has warned.

Cutting defence barristers' fees by up to 23% would lead to miscarriages of justice, Desmond Browne QC said.

The Ministry of Justice has said cuts would prevent any incentive to favour defence work over prosecution work.

But, speaking at the annual Bar Council conference, in central London, Mr Browne said: "Swingeing cuts can have only one result - quality will be driven down as experienced advocates are driven out.

"Poor quality advocacy increases the chances of acquittal of the guilty and, worse to my mind, conviction of the innocent. It is in the public interest that, at this time of all times, the Bar's voice is heard."

The Ministry of Justice previously said it wanted to bring defence fees "more in line" with rates for prosecuting barristers, who earn on average 23% less.

Mr Browne highlighted the way in which "short-sighted" cuts to the legal aid budget have affected barristers and their clients, adding: "In May this year Baroness Butler-Sloss told the House of Lords that she advised Bar students not to do family work. Coming from a former President of the Family Division, what could possibly be sadder - or more disturbing?

"More than ever today, with the number of care cases increasing and with the current chronic shortage of CAFCASS guardians, there needs to be available a corps of expert advocates to conduct these exceptionally challenging and demanding cases... as we know from Baby P and earlier cases like Victoria Climbie, this is about children themselves."

Payments for expert witnesses giving their opinions at civil and criminal trials are also predicted to fall, by up to a fifth. Duty solicitors at some police stations will also feel the pinch as their fees are cut.

The £2 billion legal aid budget has become a target for savings as ministers attempt to cut the Justice department's total budget by £1 billion over the next three years. Justice minister Lord Bach said the changes would "protect" civil legal aid during the economic downturn by preventing rises in spending on criminal cases.