Monday Message 06.01.24
What does 2025 have in store for the Criminal Bar?
Many of you will have travelled through the snow to Crown Courts across England and Wales today after spending time with your loved ones over the festive break. Few Criminal Barristers will have had the luxury of a complete break. Hours will have been spent preparing upcoming trials, writing advices and undertaking training courses to ensure that every hour of Crown Court time is used efficiently. We wonder how many Criminal Barristers started today really looking forward to a return to the relentless barrage of administration and court hearings, to the early mornings and late nights of case preparation. We key workers have worked tirelessly to ensure that trials which could go ahead have done so. Whether the Criminal Bar retains enough people to undertake this difficult and traumatic work and whether it can recruit sufficient new Criminal Barristers with the desire and resilience to remain within the profession depends on whether the recommendations of the CLAIR, and the CLAAB, the independent Government reports into the Criminal Justice system are implemented. Our members await with interest the decisions of the Government through the Ministry of Justice as to whether they are willing to pay the price for a functioning Criminal Justice system which should return to its position as the envy of the World. Are the desires to halve violence against women and girls, to give priority to rape cases and to ensure that trials are heard within a reasonable time rhetoric or are they real?
What reward and recognition have we received for our service?
The action taken in 2022 was necessary because after receipt of the report it instructed Lord Bellamy to produce, the Government thought that if it ignored us and refused to talk with us we would simply put up with their conduct. Taking action to protect and preserve the Criminal Bar had a significant financial cost to each Barrister who took action. In November 2022, as a result of that action. we received a 15% increase on defence legal aid fees and an additional sum of £7 million was to be set aside for s28 cases and special preparation which was to be utilised in full by March 2025. A substantial amount of that £7 million has not been spent. Part of the deal was the setting up of an independent body, known as CLAAB to consider remuneration and retention of the advocates within the Criminal Justice system and it was to report annually, commencing in 2023.
The Government applauded itself for giving us a 15% rise in defence fees. That must have seemed to the general public like a substantial pay rise. There was no explanation that chronic underfunding and cuts for many years meant that this was an emergency measure to prevent the Criminal Bar from being totally destroyed. The provision of the report of HH Taylor, following an 11 months’ delay in setting the CLAAB up and then a 9 months’ delay in appointing the independent chair meant that its recommendations were not provided until November 2024.
The CLAAB recommended that obtaining increases in funding should not depend on obliging the Criminal Bar and Solicitors to take disruptive action but should rely upon financially realistic, merit based increases. By the time of the CLAAB report the 15% increase that was described in the Bellamy report as “the minimum necessary as the first step in nursing the system of criminal legal aid back to health” was eroded by inflation and the cost of living such that significant further funding is now required to achieve the aims of CLAIR. It added that whilst work was ongoing to improve the current fee structures, urgent increases to the fees for RASSO cases and a 10% uplift for all criminal legal aid defence fees was sought by the CBA and Bar Council. CLAAB recommended that “substantial immediate additional funding above the 15% recommended by CLAIR is now required to meet CLAIR aims.” Of course, since our submissions were made to the CLAAB many months have passed and the joint submission made by the Bar Council and the CBA in advance of the Autumn 2024 budget called for a 15% increase on all defence fees to take account of additional inflation and the cost of living.
The announcement of increases to fees for Solicitors is welcomed. It is hoped that this increase can retain sufficient Criminal Solicitors.
We are now working with the Minister of State (Ministry of Justice) Sarah Sackman and the Ministry of Justice to resolve the necessary percentage increase to all defence fees, not limited to increases in RASSO cases, and the means by which we can receive the outstanding millions from the s28 and wasted/special preparation which were agreed in the Autumn 2022 settlement but have not been utilised as promised. Time is of the essence. The start of that process has been productive. Our essential role in the Criminal Justice system has been recognised and the Lord Chancellor and Minster of State have referred to the respect with which they hold the Criminal Bar’s vital contribution to justice. We will do all that we can to work with them to achieve a “financially realistic and merit based increase.” If our efforts are met with prevarication and a lack of progress, we will ask you what our next steps should be.
The Northern Irish Criminal Bar
The Northern Irish Bar, led by Gavan Duffy KC, are refusing to undertake any legally aided Crown Court cases in Northern Ireland for the whole of January. After that they will return to work but will continue to refuse to accept instructions on murder and manslaughter cases. They will also refuse to accept instructions in multi-complainant sexual offences. We send them our support and friendship.
The Leveson Review
The CBA and Bar Council met with Sir Brian just before the Christmas break to discuss how we can provide information and comments as to the matters that he has been asked to consider. We are extremely grateful to Francis Fitzgibbon KC and Jeremy Dein KC for agreeing to co-chair the CBA responses and to all those who have volunteered to assist us with preparing our responses to the questions raised. We now have sufficient volunteers.
Late payment of fees by the Crown Prosecution Service
At a recent meeting with the CPS we received an apology for the very late payments of Counsels’ fees in three CPS areas. We understand that much work has been undertaken to improve the position. If late fees continue to be an issue for you, do please let us know and we will undertake to raise the issue again.
The Backlog
We are being asked if re-opening Nightingale Courts might assist in reducing the backlog. We are giving consideration to that, bearing in mind the costs of such additional courts and the limited number of sitting days. At a time when on average it seems that 20% of Crown Court rooms across England and Wales are not being used, we would suggest that the first option would be to utilise the resources that we have already. We are grateful for the front page coverage and detailed article on delays to justice and the backlogs in the I Paper. The article can be read here.
Trauma-informed Advocacy Course
The ICCA have prepared a free course to assist us all with how to deal with trauma in our advocacy. Lynda Gibbs KC and Kama Melly KC have been the lead Counsel on this first-calls training programme. We recommend this course to you which can be accessed here. The course will take no more than 3-4 hours to complete and provides resources to take forward into practice. Wellbeing of Counsel is also considered in the course.
Education
On the 15th January 2025 there is a lecture on Legal Professional Privilege in Criminal Investigations and Proceedings. Will Hayes from Kingsley Napley is the Speaker. It is a highly informative talk and is free to members.
Studio Lambert Enquiry – The Traitors
Studio Lambert are looking for a diverse range of people to take part in the next series of the BBC1 multi-award-winning reality competition series The Traitors.
The Traitors is a competition series built on strategy, suspicion and deception, filmed in the Scottish Highlands. A team of contestants will compete in a series of missions, the more missions they win, the bigger the prize pot.
However, amongst the players lie the ‘Traitors.’ The Traitors will meet in secret and decide who to eliminate from their fellow players known as the ‘Faithful.’ The aim for the Traitors is to stay undetected until the end, the aim for the Faithful is to vote out and ‘banish’ all the Traitors before the game ends. Throughout the series, there will be twists, turns, rigorous challenges, shocks and surprises for the contestants.
A game of trust and treachery…do you have what it takes to play?
To view a trailer for the show, click here.
If you, or anyone you know may be interested in applying to take part or would like more information including the T&Cs, please visit the website.
Closing date for applications is the 9th February 2025.
Applicants must be 18 years of age or over and have the legal right to reside in the UK.
Young CBA Committee Members Sought
Fancy having your say about the future of the young bar? We are recruiting for more committee members. If you’re under 7 years call and interested in making a difference or know someone who may be perfect for the position please contact Emma Fielding for more info.
Finally
We have received this communication from HMCTS.
We wanted to share with you our Inside HMCTS podcast episodes that talk about an initiative we have been involved in to help tackle knife crime amongst young people in London. We’d be grateful if you could help us spread the word by sharing this on your communications channels.
We know that like us you will value the efforts being taken to combat knife crime, as well as the positive impact that community engagement can play in breaking down barriers.
Click below to listen to the podcasts:
Knives Down: Inside the community fight against knife crime (Part 1) – Inside HMCTS
Knives Down: Inside the community fight against knife crime (Part 2) – Inside HMCTS
Key Highlights
- In this two-part episode, we hear about the inspiration behind the event and the importance of educating young people on the dangers of knife crime.
- We also hear from some of the speakers who participated in the event, including police representatives; charities turning knives into street gyms; doctors teaching emergency first aid; defence professionals and the Minister who attended on the day.
Thank you for your support as we work together to tackle knife crime across the UK.
Yours,
Mary Prior KC
Chair of The Criminal Bar Association.